1 °a 



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1 * 1 ■ * a > .0' « s ' ^ >< '5> 






JACOB'S FLIGHT; 

OE 

A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



JACOB'S FLIGHT; 

Oil 

A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN 



IN THE PATRIARCH'S FOOTSTEPS 

INTO 

THE PROMISED LAND. 



TOttfj IHtwrttattotw. 



By MRS. B EKE. 



WITH 

AN INTRODUCTION AND A MAP BY DR. BEKE, 

1867; J 

y of V/ash'm^ 1 
LONDON: U 

LONGMAN, GREEN/ LONGMAN, ROBERTS. AND GREEN . 

1865. 

\Tlie right of Translation is reaerre L] 



CAST THY BREAD UPON THE WATERS: EOR THOU SHALT EIND IT 
AETER MANY DAYS. 



WAS GKLANZT 1ST EUR DEN AUGrENBLICK GrEBOREN ; 
DAS ACHTE BLEIBT DER N AC H WELT UNVERLOREN, 

Gothe. 



JOHN" EDWARD TAYLOE, PRINTER, 
LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN'S I NTS' FIELDS. 



PREFACE. 



The present Work is the narrative of a journey, under- 
taken in order to establish, from personal observation, 
the correctness of the opinions expressed by my husband 
in his 'Origines Biblicse, or Researches in Primeval 
History/ respecting the patriarch Abraham's place of 
residence in Padan Aram, and the road taken by his 
grandson Jacob in his Flight from that country over 
Mount Gilead into the Land of Canaan. 

Dr. Beke has related in the Introduction the circum- 
stances under which this journey was resolved on; and 
a favourable opportunity of performing it seemed to 
present itself to us in the year 1860, when returning 
to England from Mauritius, where we had been re- 
siding several years. 

Our plan was, on reaching Egypt on our way home, 
to proceed by steamer to Beyrout, and thence over 



PREFACE. 



Mount Lebanon to Damascus and Harran; and ac- 
cordingly the requisites for the journey were ordered 
out from London, to meet us at Alexandria, and every 
preparation was made for our intended excursion. 

But, on our arrival in Egypt towards the end of June 
of that year, we were grieved and disappointed at hear- 
ing of the calamitous disturbances, which, just at that 
moment, had unfortunately broken out in the precise 
localities we proposed visiting, and which compelled us, 
most reluctantly, to abandon our contemplated under- 
taking, at all events for a time. 

Nothing remained therefore but to proceed home 
across the continent of Europe ; and it was not till the 
year 1861 had nearly expired, that we were able to leave 
England again, for the purpose of carrying our long- 
cherished resolution into effect. 

Before quitting Mauritius it was arranged, at the ex- 
press wish of my husband, that from our joint notes I 
should compose the Narrative of our Pilgrimage, and 
that he should write an Introductory Chapter, explain- 
ing the motives and objects of the journey, and the 
grounds for his rectification of Scriptural geography in 
this most important particular. 

During the preparation of our work for the press, 
it has however been found expedient to incorporate in 
my Narrative several portions of what was originally 



PREFACE. 



vii 



intended for the Introduction. Of these, it will be suf- 
ficient to particularize the whole of the fifth, and the 
concluding portion of the fourteenth chapter. 

It is right I should add, that the entire work has had 
the benefit of my husband's supervision. 

EMILY BEKE. 

Bekesbouefe, 

2nd December, 1864. 



CONTENTS. 



— ^ 

PAG3 

INTRODUCTION, BY DE. BEKE 1 

CHAPTEE I. 

FBOM ENGLAND TO BEYEOUT 23 

CHAPTER II. 

BEYEOUT 33 

CHAPTER III. 

EXCUESION TO NAHE- EL-KELB 48 

CHAPTER IV. 

EEOM BEYEOUT TO DAMASCUS . 61 

CHAPTER V. 

HISTOEY OE THE PATEIAECHS ABEAHAM AND JACOB IN 

CONNECTION WITH HAEEAN 85 

' CHAPTER VI. 

EXCUESION TO HAEEAN 98 



X 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PAGE 

HAEEAN .......... 115 

CHAPTER VIII. 

DAMASCUS 138 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE WOMEN OF DAMASCUS . . ■ 158 

CHAPTER X. 

Damascus (continued) 172 

CHAPTER XI. 

FEOM DAMASCUS TO HAEKAN 191 

CHAPTER XII. 

FEOM HAEEAN TO SANAMEIN 204 

CHAPTER XIII. 

FEOM SANAMEIN TO ESHMISKIN ......... 224 

CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM ESHMISKIN TO MOUNT GrlLEAD ....... 240 

CHAPTER XV. 

FROM MOUNT GrlLEAD TO KEFEENJI 257 

CHAPTER XVI. 

FKOM KEFEENJI TO THE JOEDAN ......... 279 

I 



CONTENTS. xi 
CHAPTER XYII. 

I'AGE 

PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN 298 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

FROM THE JORDAN TO SHECHEM ......... 311 

CHAPTER XIX. 

FROM SHECHEM TO ENGLAND .......... 329 

APPENDIX 343 



A Woman of Harran ........... Frontispiece. 

Inscription at Nahr-el-Kelb ....... to face page 56 

Harran 115 

GrHASSULE 205 

Cromlech on Mount Gilead ............ 259 

Encampment at Mezar , . , , 262 

Ajltjn and Kellat-er-Babbad ........... 273 

Tomb op Abu Obeida 285 

Passage op the Jordan ... 302 

Map at the end. 



JACOB'S FLIGHT. 



INTEODUCTION. 

Throughout the whole history of the Hebrew nation, 
there is no part more deserving of consideration than 
the narrative of the patriarch Jacob's flight from Harran 
to Gilead, and thence across the Jordan into the Pro- 
mised Land, contained in the thirty-first and two follow- 
ing chapters of the Book of Genesis. As a matter of 
general history, this incident of the patriarch's life may 
not at first sight appear of great moment in itself ; but 
when it is considered in all its bearings, it will be found 
to possess more real importance than perhaps any other 
single point of early Biblical history. For, in the first 
place, the geography of the Old Testament being mainly 
dependent on the situation of the country whence Abra- 
ham and his family emigrated into Canaan, and Harran 
of Padan Aram having been hitherto most wrongly 

B 



2 



Jacob's flight. 



placed ; it follows that the determination of its true 
position must necessarily occasion material changes in 
Biblical geography. Further, this fundamental error 
in the geography of the patriarchal ages having been 
attended by others not less serious with respect to the 
personal history, language, and national customs of the 
patriarchs themselves, who have thus been altogether 
misplaced in the world's history ; the rectification of the 
position of their residence will materially facilitate, if it 
does not directly operate, the correction of these various 
errors. And, lastly, this portion of the Hebrew Scrip- 
tures being by this means freed from the difficulties, with 
which it is beset under the interpretation it has usually 
received, the flight of the patriarch Jacob from Padan 
Aram into Canaan, which has by some persons been 
regarded as symbolical, by others as mythical, and by 
not a few even as nothing better than a mere fiction, 
must now be accepted by all as an historical fact, 
quite as true in every sense as is St. Paul's journey 
from Csesarea to Rome, narrated in the last two chapters 
of the Acts of the Apostles. 

As regards the position of Harran, the traditional 
authorities are unanimous, or nearly so, in identifying 
it with the celebrated city of that name, —the Charrse 
of profane history, — situate within the extensive region 
generally known as Mesopotamia, the country between 
the two rivers Euphrates and Tigris. According to 
Dr. Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible,' Harran "is said 



INTRODUCTION. 



3 



to be in Mesopotamia (Gen. xxiv. 10)/* or more defini- 
tively in Padan Aram (xxv. 20), which is 'the culti- 
vated district at the foot of the hills ' (Stanley's ' Sinai 
and Palestine/ 129, note), a name well applying to the 
beautiful stretch of country which lies below Mount 
Masius between the Khabour and the Euphrates. Here, 
about midway in this district, is a town still called 
Harran, which really seems never to have changed its 
appellation, and beyond any reasonable doubt is the 
Haran or Charran of Scripture (Bochart's 6 Phaleg/ i. 
14; Ewald'a ' Geschichte/ i. 384}." 

This traditional identification of Harran, however 
respectable from its antiquity and however strongly 
supported by authority, has long been disputed by me. 
In my ' Origines Biblieee, or Researches in Primeval 
History/ published in the year 1834, I declared it to be 
impossible, mainly on account of the distance from Gilead, 
for the Harran of Genesis to have been situate anywhere 
within Mesopotamia beyond the Euphrates ; and whilst 
contending generally that the residence of Laban should 
be sought for somewhere near Damascus, I affirmed, it 
to be highly probable that " the country watered by the 
Pharpar and Abana — the fertile district known in after- 
times as the Ager Damascenus — was Padan Aram ; the 
country into which, by the Divine direction, Terah and 
his family removed, and in which was situated the city 

* This is not the fact : the Hebrew text has Aram Naharaim. To 
assert that this is Mesopotamia is simply begging the whole question. 

B 2 



4 



Jacob's flight. 



of Haran or Charran, whence Abraham was called, and 
which afterwards was the residence of Laban."* And 
I explained further how this rectification of the position 
of Harran freed the narrative of Jacob's flight and La- 
ban's pursuit from the difficulties which have always 
presented themselves to Biblical critics, on account of 
the supposed distance between Harran and Mount 
Gilead.f 

These opinions of an unknown writer were so entirely 
contrary to every authority,— except indeed that of the 
Sacred Volume, on which they w r ere avowedly based, 
— that they were not likely to meet with favour. 
Their direct opposition to the views usually entertained, 
rendered them unpalatable to those persons who did not 
c^re to have their settled notions disturbed ; whilst 
the fact of my regarding the Bible as an inspired work, 
was more than sufficient to ensure the non-acceptance 
of my views by divines and critics of the rationalistic 
school. 

Had my work appeared at the present day, when a 
growing tendency is evinced to liberate primeval truth 
from the trammels of traditional interpretation, it would 
(I believe) have met with a better reception ; but, being 
in that respect in advance of its age, it was almost uni- 
versally rejected. Still' it was considered of sufficient 
importance to be noticed, if only to be condemned ; and 
accordingly it was severely criticized, and particularly in 

* Op. cit. } p. 131. t Ibid., p. 128, seq. 



INTRODUCTION. 



5 



an article in the c Quarterly Review - for November, 
1834, generally attributed to the pen of the venerable 
Dean of St. Paul's, and in one in the e Heidelberger 
Jahrbiicher der Literatur' for January, 1835, by the 
late Dr. Paulus, of Jena, the learned editor of the works 
of Spinoza, who, like a true rationalist, constituted him- 
self the champion of tradition and of human as opposed 
to Divine authority. 

At that time, as I then explained, I was not in a posi- 
tion to propose a substitute for the pseudo-Harran, or 
even to decide absolutely where the true Harran should 
be sought for j and as the first and (in a vulgar sense) 
most important requisite for proving my case was the 
identity of name, I plainly saw that, until I could point 
out this other Harran to replace the one objected to, it 
would be difficult, if not impossible, to persuade others 
to adopt my views, or even to afford them that serious 
and impartial consideration to which they were en- 
titled. 

Thus, then, I was compelled to let the matter rest till 
the beginning of the year 1859, when, being resident in 
Mauritius, I accidentally saw a copy of the Rev. J. L. 
Porter's c Five Years in Damascus/ which I opened with 
interest, in the hope of finding something bearing on a 
subject that had never been entirely absent from my 
thoughts. To my exceeding gratification, I found in 
page 376 of the first volume of that work, an account 
of a visit made by the author and a party of friends, 



JACOBUS FLIGHT. 



in November, 1852, to the large village of Harran, — ge- 
nerally called Harran-el-Awamid, or Harran of the 
Columns, from three noble Ionic columns standing in 
its centre, — distant from Damascus about fourteen geo- 
graphical miles towards the east, which place I at once 
saw was what I had so long desired to discover ; it being 
a spot in the immediate vicinity of Damascus, bearing 
to this day the identical name of the residence of Terah 
and his family, and answering to all the requirements 
of the Scripture history, — even in the minutest parti- 
culars, as I have since ascertained from a personal in- 
spection. Mr. Porter's discovery (the value of which 
was immeasurably enhanced by the fact that he w 7 as 
quite unconscious of its application) led me to resume 
the consideration of my labours of years gone by ; and 
my renewed investigation of the subject made me re- 
solve to visit Harran in person, and thence to trace the 
route of the patriarch Jacob on his return from Pad an 
Aram into the Promised Land. 

The present volume, written by my w T ife, contains a 
narrative of the journey accomplished in pursuance of 
this resolution ; and, as preliminary to that narrative, 
I have to offer the following remarks. 

The Book of Genesis, from which is drawn the ac- 
count of the incident in the patriarch Jacob's life that 
forms the main subject of the present w r ork, contains 
also (it needs scarcely be said) a brief summary of the 
previous history of the world from its creation. It 



INTRODUCTION. 



7 



would be out of place to dwell here upon the general 
subject ; but in the Appendix I have ventured on some 
observations with reference to Man's early history, both 
before and after the time of Noah ; the opinions there 
entertained being in accordance with those expressed 
in ' Origines Biblicse.' 

For the present purpose it will be sufficient for me 
to state here, that I regard the primitive residence of 
the descendants of Noah, the progenitors of the exist- 
ing human race, as having been in the northern por- 
tion of Mesopotamia • in which locality T also place the 
city of Babel, where the confusion of tongues occurred 
and the dispersion of mankind originated.* 

The special history of the descendants of Noah after 
their dispersion is not given in the Book of Genesis, 
except in the particular instance of the family whose 
archives that Book is. Still, in connection with the 
fortunes of this family, we discover in the first pages 

* Notwithstanding Dr. Oppert's singular discovery (see Smith's c Dic- 
tionary of the Bible,' vol. iii. p. 1555), I still dispute the identity of 
the comparatively modern Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar with the Babel 
of Genesis. In the map to Dr. H. Petermann's 'Reisen im Orient' 
(Leipzig, 1861), I find marked a village named Babil, about forty geo- 
graphical miles N. of Jebel Sinjar, and seventy miles N.W. of the ruins 
of Mneveh. In 'Origines Biblicse' (p. 66, seq.) I placed " Babel in 
the land of Shinar " (Gren. x. 10), nearly as far north, but not so far 
east, as this Babil near Jebel Sinjar. Babil is described by Dr. Peter- 
mann as " so wretched a place as to have been unfit for him to pass 
the night there, as he had intended to do." This spot is deserving of 
closer examination. 



8 



Jacob's flight. 



of that venerable record traces of warfare among the 
various primitive races. The Hamite Nimrod went 
forth out of Shinar into the country of the Shemite 
Asshur, and there builded Nineveh and other cities ; and 
at a later date another king of Shinar, Amraphel, with 
his allies, made war against the Hamitish descendants 
of Phut,"* who occupied the countries to the east of 
Canaan and the Dead Sea, round the southern extre- 
mity of which latter the invaders extended their ravages, 
coming there into collision with the Shemitish settlers 
in the Promised Land. 

In the midst of hostile movements like these among 
the descendants of Noah, the Arphaxadite " Terah took 
Abram his son, and Lot the son of Harran his son's son, 
and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife ; 
and they went forth with them from TJr of the Chaldees, 
to go into the land of Canaan ; and they came unto 
Harran, and dwelt there. "f 

Ur of the Chaldees — in the Hebrew text Ur-Casdim— 
the original residence of Terah and his family, is gene- 
rally supposed to be represented by the ancient city of 
Edessa, now Orfah or Urfah, situate in the north-west- 
ern portion of Mesopotamia, in about 39° N. latitude 

* See £ Origines Biblicse,' p. 218. 

f What bearing (if any) Mmrod's invasion of the land of Asshtir may 
have had on the fortunes of Terah and his family, is nowhere stated 
in the Scripture history. But it is deserving of notice that universal 
tradition among the Jews and Mohammedans connects the patriarch. 
Abraham with the Hamitish invader. 



INTRODUCTION. 



9 



and 37° E. longitude. It is not necessary to discuss 
the correctness of this identification, since nothing is 
here made dependent on the precise position of Ur- 
Casdim. In ' Origines Biblicse' I show that it must 
have been somewhere in the northern portion of Me- 
sopotamia ; and I am content to assume that Edessa or 
Orfah truly occupies the site of the primitive residence 
of the patriarchs. 

The country into which Terah and his family emi- 
grated from Ur-Casdim, was the inheritance of the chil- 
dren of Aram, the youngest brother of Arphaxad ; the 
district in which the wanderers settled down being 
known in the Hebrew Scriptures by the names of Aram 
Naharaim (literally Aram of the Two Rivers), Padan 
Aram (the plain of Aram), and Sedeh Aram (the field 
or cultivated country of Aram) . Here Terah founded 
a city, which he called Harran in remembrance of his 
youngest son so named, who had "died in the land of 
his nativity, in Ur^Casdim and this city continued 
to be the permanent residence of Terah^s second son, 
Nahor, and his descendants, after the eldest son, Abra- 
ham, and his nephew Lot (Harran's son) had left Aram 
of the Two Rivers to proceed into the land of Canaan. 
It is the mistaken rendering of the Hebrew name Aram 
Naharaim, or Aram of the Two Rivers, by the seem- 
ingly corresponding Greek expression MeaoirorafjiLa, 
which has led to the general belief that Harran, the 
residence of Terah and his family, was within the ex- 



10 



Jacob's flight. 



tensive region named Mesopotamia, lying between the two 
rivers Euphrates and Tigris, far away from Damascus, 
the capital of Aram ; instead of .being in the plain and 
cultivated country between the two rivers Abana and 
Pharpar, in the immediate vicinity of the latter city. 

The arguments for and against my identification of 
Harran were fully stated in £ Origines Biblicse,' in Dr. 
Paulus's critique of that work in the c Heidelberger 
Jahrbiicher/ and in my ' Vertheidigung gegen Herrn 
Dr. Paulus/ etc., published at Leipzig in 1835 ; and 
they have recently been partially reproduced in several 
articles in the ' Athenaeum/ from the pens of the Rev. 
J. L. Porter, Mr. W. Francis Ainsworth, Sir Henry C. 
llawlinson, and myself. It is consequently unnecessary 
to re-state those arguments here, especially as it has 
almost become a work of supererogation to employ argu- 
ment to prove what to every unprejudiced mind must 
be self-evident, when once the error and the simple 
means of its rectification are pointed out. 

In fact, the whole question now resolves itself into 
the meaning to be attached to the words of the text 
(Gen. xxxi. 19-23), in which Jacob's evasion and La- 
ban's pursuit of him are related : — " And Laban went 
to shear his sheep : and Hachel had stolen the teraphim 
that were her father's. And Jacob stole away unawares 
to Laban the Aramite, in that he told him not that he 
fled. So he fled with all he had ; and he rose up, and 
passed over the river, and set his face toward the Mount 



INTEODUCTION. 



11 



Gilead. And it was told Laban on the third day that 
Jacob was fled. And he took his brethren with him, 
and pursued after him seven days' journey; and they 
overtook him in the Mount Gilead/'' 

This text has been the subject of frequent comment 
and discussion, though more with reference to the in- 
cidents of the journey (on account of the difficulties 
with which, as is only natural, they were always found 
to be surrounded), than to the particular road taken by 
the fugitive and his pursuer, For, the correctness of 
the traditional identification of Harran having been as- 
sumed, there was no room left for much difference of 
opinion as to the way from thence to Gilead; and the 
following observations of the Rev. J. L. Porter, tjie 
most recent authoritative writer on this portion of Bi- 
blical geography, may be cited as expressing the notions 
generally entertained on the subject. 

In the first volume of his e Five Years in Damascus/ 
pages 250, 251, when speaking of the valley between 
Palmyra and Damascus, Mr. Porter remarks : — " Dreary 
and desolate as this great valley seems, it is not without 
its associations, historic and sacred ; and the whole route 
we were now following is one that has been noted for long 
centuries. Along it Abraham travelled* when journey- 
ing to the Land of Promise, in obedience to the com- 
mand of his God; and Jacob followed in his footsteps, 

* I know not Mr. Porter's authority for this statement, which has 
not even the sanction of tradition. 



12 



Jacob's flight. 



with his wives and children, flocks and herds, men and 
maid-servants. His route would necessarily be regulated 
by the fountains at which he could obtain the necessary 
supplies of water. The time occupied by the journey 
(ten days) proves that he could not have passed round 
by Northern Syria, but must have taken the shortest 
course to Mount Gilead, where Laban came up with 
him. For these reasons it is clear he must have passed 
the copious springs of Palmyra and Kuryetein, and 
thence pursued his journey through the fertile territory 
of Damascus. The distance from the banks of the 
Euphrates at Harran could not be accomplished in less 
than ten days by one encumbered as he was, and it 
would not require a longer time where dispatch was 
used. Laban, however, on his swift dromedaries could 
easily perform the same journey in seven days. A truer 
or more vivid picture of patriarchal life could not be 
witnessed than the march of an Arab tribe across this 
dreary region." 

According to Mr. Porter's own showing, the distance 
in a direct line between the Euphrates and Mount 
Gilead is two hundred and fifty geographical, equal to 
two hundred and eighty-eight statute miles ; and adding 
to this one-fifth for the irregularities of the road, the 
distance to be actually travelled becomes three hundred 
and forty-five statute miles. This distance Jacob, with 
his " oxen and asses, flocks and herds, men-servants and 
women-servants," and with his wives and young children. 



INTRODUCTION. 



13 



is supposed to have been able to travel in ten days, — 
consequently at the rate of thirty-four miles and a half 
daily for ten consecutive days ; whilst Laban and his 
brethren, mounted on swift dromedaries and in the 
ardour of pursuit, are assumed to have occupied as many 
as seven days in performing the same distance, that is 
to say, to have travelled less than fifty miles a day. 

The latter assumption, though possible, is most im- 
probable, inasmuch as a swift dromedary would accom- 
plish the journey in half the time. But as to the idea 
that Jacob's flocks and herds and their young, with his 
own infant family (twelve children, and the eldest only 
twelve years of age!), could have accomplished such a 
journey in ten days, — especially so late in the year as 
sheep-shearing season, — it rests simply on a physical im- 
possibility ; and the wonder is that such an idea should 
have ever entered the mind of any one. Jacob himself 
told his brother Esau, shortly after he had parted from 
Laban, il My lord knoweth that the children are tender, 
and the flocks and herds with young are with me ; and 
if men should overdrive them one day, all the flock will 
die. Let my lord, T pray thee, pass over before his ser- 
vant ; and I will lead on softly, according as the cattle 
that goeth before me and the children be able to en- 
dure." And although this representation of the wily pro- 
genitor of the Israelites is not to be taken too literally, 
still there cannot be a doubt that even twenty days, 
or double the number usually allowed him to perform 



14 



Jacob's flight. 



the journey, would not have been sufficient for the pur- 
pose. 

Such in fact is the conclusion of Sir Henry Rawlin- 
son, who, whilst professing to support Mr. Porter's ar- 
gument, says, nevertheless, " we know not how many 
days were consumed by Laban in his preparations for 
the pursuit, after receiving notice 6 on the third day ' of 
the evasion of his son-in-law. Laban, indeed, may have 
required a week, or even ten days, to collect his fol- 
lowers and dromedaries from the desert before setting 
out to recover his ' images ; ' so that, although when 
once fairly started, he traversed the entire distance from 
Haran to Gilead in seven days, Jacob may have occu- 
pied as much as twenty days on his march to the same 
place from the banks of the Euphrates." 

This forced explanation of the text is, however, pre- 
cisely that of Dr. Paulus, which I confuted in my ' Ver- 
theidigung.' Its absurdity is evident at a glance. If 
Jacob took twenty days, and Laban only seven days, to 
perform the journey, thirteen days must have elapsed be- 
fore the latter began his pursuit. Had he really waited 
so long before starting, it is scarcely probable he would 
have started at all. The common-sense meaning of the 
w r ords of the text is that Laban' s pursuit was immediate, 
just as was that of Pharaoh after the Israelites (Exodus 
xiv. 5-8) . Only, such being the case, Laban could not 
possibly have avoided overtaking Jacob, before he had 
accomplished one-half of his supposed c( twenty" days' 



INTRODUCTION. 



15 



journey to Gilead. And this is just the difficulty which 
must always attend the traditional Harran and the no- 
tion that "'the river" crossed by Jacob was "the great 
river, the river Euphrates." 

As regards this latter point, I have to make the 
following observation. There are few persons, I appre- 
hend, who do not live, or have not at some time or 
other lived, near some stream, which, although perhaps 
far from being the largest in the kingdom or in the 
county, is in common parlance known in the vicinity 
as " the river." This river may even be as insig- 
nificant as the Lesser Stour, on the banks of which I 
am now writing (October 10th, 1864): a brook, which 
has been absolutely dry for more than a twelvemonth, 
winter as well as summer, but which nevertheless is 
" the river " of my neighbours and myself. In like 
manner the Pharpar, on the banks of which Jacob had 
fed his father-in-law's flocks for twenty years, was 
to him " the river," and not the distant Euphrates, of 
which he and his family were not likely to have known 
anything since the time when the patriarch Abraham 
left— 

"His gods, his friends, and native soil, 
Ur of Chaldaea, passing now the ford 
To Haran." 

Between the spot where Jacob may be assumed to 
have " passed over the river " Pharpar and the summit 
of Mount Gilead, the distance measured on the map is 



16 



Jacob's flight. 



sixty geographical or seventy statute miles ; to which 
adding one-fifth for the irregularities of the road, we 
have eighty-four statute miles, as the actual distance 
travelled by Jacob before Laban overtook him. Arid 
this, we are told, was " seven days' journey not as 
indicating necessarily the time occupied by the traveller, 
but as a measure of distance, which gives twelve statute 
miles as the length of a day's journey. 

Perhaps this is somewhat shorter than the usual esti- 
mate of travelling by the single day, — Sir Henry llaw- 
linson says that " an Arab tribe on its ordinary migra- 
tions moves from twelve to fifteen miles per diem," — 
but as the sum of seven consecutive days it is ample. 
The caravans of pilgrims from Damascus to Mecca, 
going along the very road taken by the fugitive and his 
pursuer, occupy that time, if not longer. My wife and 
I, not having the impediments of the patriarch or of 
ordinary native travellers, arrived at the summit of 
Mount Gilead on the fourth morning after leaving " the 
river " at Kisweh ; and Laban might have performed the 
journey even more speedily than ourselves, had he not 
had to start from Harran, whereby the distance he 
rode was lengthened twenty-six statute miles ; if in- 
deed he was not at the time even further away to the 
east than his usual place of residence : for we read that 
"he set three days' journey betwixt himself and Jacob," 
and further, that, at the time of the latter's evasion, 
Laban was gone to shear his sheep ; so that this extra 



INTRODUCTION. 



17 



distance, whatever it may have amounted to, had like- 
wise to be traversed, after it had been " told Laban 
on the third day that Jacob was fled." 

There is, however, a great fallacy in the supposition 
that Laban and his brethren pursued the fugitive 
mounted on swift dromedaries. Such animals may suit 
the wild Arabs of the Desert, but not the settled resi- 
dents in a town, like Laban and his kinsmen. On New 
Year's Day of 1862, as is narrated in page 206 of my 
wife's work, Sheikh Mali mud of Ghassule, a village near 
Harran, accompanied us on horseback as far as Nejha, 
on "the river" Awaj or Pharpar. If, two or three 
days after we had left him, he had had occasion to 
"pursue after" us, he would not have thought of send- 
ing into the Desert to the f Anezeh or any other Beduin 
tribe for their swift dromedaries, and waiting for these 
a week or even ten days, as Sir Henry Rawlinson sug- 
gests; but he and a few of his villagers ("brethren"), 
called together on the spur of the moment, would at 
once have mounted their horses, and followed after us 
as quickly as the animals could carry them, going pro- 
bably over two miles of ground while we were going 
one. And such, no doubt, was the course pursued by 
Laban and his companions. 

On the other hand, as it would have been quite im- 
possible for the females and young children of Jacob's 
family to perform the journey on foot, or even mounted 
on horses or asses^ the patriarch, as we read, " set his 

c 



18 



Jacob's flight. 



sons and his wives upon camels;" and in so doing, he 
availed himself of the ordinary means of conveyance at 
the present day adopted by the Syrian traveller, who 
places his harim on the slow but sure and enduring ship 
of the desert, in a sort of large covered pannier hanging 
on each side of the animal : — the of the Hebrew text, 
in our Authorized version translated "camel's furni- 
ture/' in which Rachel hid her father's teraphim, when 
he entered her tent in search of them. 

The more the subject is investigated and considered, 
the more manifest it becomes that the difficulties, which 
attended the Scripture narrative under its ordinary in- 
terpretation, have ceased to exist, now that the true 
Harran in Aram-Naharaim- — between the two rivers of 
Aram or Syria — is discovered. At the same time, it 
is seen how astonishingly many other inconsistencies 
and difficulties, with respect to various points of Biblical 
geography and history, vanish, the moment we restrict 
the name Aram to Syria proper. 

It is at once apparent that Damascus was truly called 
the head of Aram (Isa. vii. 8), as it has been in all ages, 
and still is at the present day, the chief city of Syria, 
having no connection with Mesopotamia beyond the 
Euphrates ; and further how Beth-Kehob, Zoba, Maa- 
cah, and Ish-Tob (2 Sam. x. 6), were portions of Aram, 
they having all been situate on the north-eastern con- 
fines of Canaan, and yet at no great distance from Da- 
mascus, as was also Geshur in Aram (2 Sam. xv. 8), 



INTRODUCTION. 



19 



whither Absalom fled after he had killed Amnon. Here 
likewise was the country of which Chushan-rishathaim 
was king (Judg. iii. 8), which could not but have been 
in the vicinity of Canaan, like those of Moab, Amnion, 
and Midian, mentioned in conjunction with it. So too, 
in Pethor of Aram-Naharaim, in the hill-country south 
of the Pharpar,"^ was the residence of Balaam, the son 
of Beor (Deut. xxiii. 4) ; whence — and not from the 
distant Mesopotamia, or, as Sir Henry Bawlinson con- 
tends, from the more distant " high lands of the Nahiri, 
who inhabited along the southern slopes of Taurus 
from the Persian frontier almost to Cilicia/' — that pro- 
phet could readily have answered the repeated calls of 
Balak, king of Moab, and where too, after he had 
" returned to his place," he was still so near to the 
country of the Midianites as to make him an occa- 
sional visitor there; so that it becomes intelligible how, 
when the detachment of Israelites under Phinehas con- 
quered the Midianites, " Balaam also, the son of Beor, 
they slew with the sword" (Numb. xxxi. 8). And 
lastly, here, in the plain and fertile country between the 
two rivers of Damascus, was the residence of the pa- 
triarch Job, "the Land of Uz," — written in Hebrew 
■p2? (Ghutz or Ghuih), which name, in the Arabic form 
<&2*L {Ghutha), it retains to this day.f 

# See page 212. 

t See ' Origines Biblicse,' pp. 137-153, for a CoDsideration of the Book 
of Job. 

C 2 



20 



Jacob's flight. 



I have already stated that my views met with almost 
total discredit on their first enunciation. Indeed the 
only notice they appear to have elicited, after the re- 
views of my work at the time of its publication, is such 
as that in Dr. Xvitto's ' Cyclopaedia of the Bible;' in 
which, when speaking of the universally admitted iden- 
tification of Mesopotamia with Aram Naharaim, it is 
disparagingly added, "with the exception only of Mr. 
Tilstone Beke, who, in his 6 Origines Biblicse,' among 
many other paradoxical notions, maintains that Aram 
Naharaim is the territory of Damascus." 

Justice requires me, however, to mention that my opi- 
nion as to the true position of Harran was adopted seve- 
ral years ago by Miss Fanny Corbaux,in papers printed in 
the c Journal of Sacred Literature' and the 'Transactions 
of the Royal Society of Literature/ and more recently 
by Mr. Cyril Graham, in an article in the ' Cambridge 
Essays' for 1858. On the other hand, Dean Stanley, in 
the Appendix to his e Lectures on the Jewish Church,' 
published towards the end of 1862, inclines to the ad- 
verse opinion expressed in the e Athenseum,' in the be- 
ginning of that year, by Mr. Porter, Mr. Ainsworth, 
and Sir Henry Rawlinson. 

As a matter of course, Bishop Colenso, in his work on 
the Pentateuch and Book of Joshua, accepts without 
scruple, as does likewise his great authority, Dr. Ewald, 
the traditional identification of Mesopotamia with Aram 
Naharaim, with all the consequences of that identifi- 



INTRODUCTION. 



21 



cation ; for it may be stated as a rule, that, the more 
rationalistic a Biblical critic is as regards the text of 
Scripture itself, the more implicitly he defers to tra- 
dition and human authority with respect to its interpre- 
tation. 

Notwithstanding the great pretensions of most of the 
critics of the rationalistic school, their practice, as it 
appears to me and as I remarked long ago in my Reply 
to Dr. Paulus, is blindly and unconsciously to accept 
the erroneous traditional interpretation of the text of 
Scripture, and then as blindly and illogically to reject 
the text itself, on account of the apparent inconsistency 
or absurdity of that interpretation. 

Those critics would do well to consider the advice given 
by the Bishop of London, in his recent address* at the 
Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh : — "We must be 
very cautious not to confound mere traditional exposi- 
tions of what is contained in Scripture with the Scripture 
itself. It is astonishing how many statements, histori- 
cal or scientific, are commonly believed to be in Scrip- 
ture, which, when we examine for ourselves, we find are 
not really there." And if they would only be content 
to examine the Bible History, not on the assumption of 
its being untrue because they happen not to understand 
it, but with a sincere desire to ascertain its real mean- 
ing, free from gloss and tradition of every kind, and 
upon the supposition that it may be true in spite of their 
* On November 4th, 1864. 



22 



INTRODUCTION. 



doubts ; they would hardly fail to arrive at conclusions 
which, however much they might be at variance with 
vulgar notions, would be as confirmatory of the historical 
truth of the early Hebrew Scriptures, as is the inves- 
tigation of the circumstances of the patriarch Jacob's 
Plight, made on the Pilgrimage which it now falls to 
my wife to describe. 

C. B. 



23 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



CHAPTER I. 

FROM ENGLAND TO BEYROUT. 

When we left Alexandria for Beyrouth in the morning 
of the 3rd of December, 1861, by the French steamer 
c Indus/ of the Messageries Imperiales, the weather was 
beautiful, and a fine libeccio, or south-west wind, carried 
us rapidly to the Syrian coast ; but there it became an 
unfavourable one for landing, and on arriving off J affa 
the next morning, we found such a heavy sea running, 
that it was quite impossible for the steamer to approach 
the shore. The captain, in consequence, at once decided 
on continuing his course to Bey rout, which alteration 
caused us to arrive off that port in the evening, instead 
of early in the morning as we had anticipated ; and as 
it was then too late to land, we had to cast anchor in 
the bay, and lie there till next morning, tossing and 
rolling about in a most distressing manner. 



24 



A PILGKIMAGE TO HAKEA1ST. 



At daylight our steam was got up, and we neared the 
shore. I had suffered severely from sea-sickness during 
the passage, and my husband had unfortunately sprained 
his ankle on the evening of our departure from Alex- 
andria; so that we were both in a deplorable state for 
landing. There was such a heavy swell, and the steamer 
rolled so frightfully, that the boats which came along- 
side to land the passengers, were every moment in danger 
of being struck and carried under water by the steps of 
the ship, and the only wonder is how the people got 
into the boats at all. We scarcely know how we managed 
to scramble into ours ; but the passengers who went in 
the next boat were not so fortunate : for, just as they 
had got into it, the end of the steps came down and 
nearly swamped it, and those on board could barely 
save themselves by springing as best they could into the 
other boats. 

On reaching the miserable landing-place, I was sud- 
denly, and with the least possible ceremony, snatched 
up by a man, who carried me safely to dry land; and a 
couple of men soon placed my husband by my side. 
Our luggage was next brought on shore, and subjected 
to the iormality of an examination by the Turkish cus- 
tom-house officer, a very polite man, who took our words 
for our having no articles liable to duty, and contented 
himself with requesting me merely to unlock a single 
trunk, but without opening it. This done, we crept up 
various crooked dirty lanes and sundry steps, which we 



FEOM ENGLAND TO BEYKOUT. 



25 



were, both of us, too unwell to care to notice, except 
that they seemed interminably long, till at length we 
reached the Hotel de Belle Vue, kept by a civil Greek, 
named Andrea Boueopulos. Here we were most thank- 
ful to throw ourselves down upon the divan while wait- 
ing for our breakfast, of which I was much in need ; 
for, according to my usual custom, I had absolutely 
eaten and drunk nothing while at sea. 

We arrived at Beyrout on the morning of December 
5th, having left home on the morning of the 11th of 
the preceding month. In the intervening twenty-six 
days what places had we not visited, and what had we 
not seen ! Dover, Calais, Paris, Geneva, the Simplon, 
Lago Maggiore, Milan, Lago di Garda, Venice, Trieste, 
Corfu, Alexandria. It seemed incredible that we could 
have travelled so far in so short a time. But such are 
the wonders of steam. From the Bekesbourne Station of 
the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway to Beyrout, 
the whole distance was traversed by railway or by 
steamer, except the short space between Sion, on the 
western side of the Simplon, and Pallanza, on the Lago 
Maggiore. 

To attempt to describe anything seen on so rapid a 
journey would be futile. The sight which, on the whole, 
made the deepest impression on me, was the junction of 
the river Arve with the Rhone at Geneva. The Rhone, 
after having deposited all its impurities in Lake Leman, 
issues from it in a limpid blue stream; whilst the Arve, 



26 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAERAN. 



a much smaller river, rushing down the side of Mont 
Blanc, carries into the Rhone a muddy whitish current. 
After their junction, the waters of the two rivers, so 
different in appearance, run for some distance side by- 
side without intermingling ; and when at length they do 
unite, the turbid water of the smaller stream discolours 
the whole body of the Rhone, which, it is said, does not 
again become clear till it reaches the Mediterranean. 

This curious phenomenon afforded my husband an 
apt illustration — of which he gladly availed himself, 
with a view to my edification — of the junction of the 
two great branches of the Nile, the White and Blue 
Rivers; but at the time he witnessed, with me, the exit 
of the Rhone from the Lake of Geneva, he did not 
anticipate it would have afforded himself and others so 
forcible an argument against Captain Speke's notion 
that Lake Nyanza is the head of the Nile. If it were 
so, then the Lake of Geneva would be the head of the 
Rhone, which everybody knows it is not, and no one 
better than ourselves ; for, when we crossed the Pass of 
St. Gothard in September, 1860, we were close to the 
Glacier of the Rhone, in which the river really has its 
source, and purposed visiting it, had not the weather been 
so unfavourable in that miserably wet season. 

Without dwelling here on a subject which is now 
worn nearly threadbare, I will only express our convic- 
tion that ere long the great Egyptian mathematician and 
geographer, Claudius Ptolemy, will be conclusively proved 



FEOM ENGLAND TO BEYEOUT. 



27 



to be no " hypothetical humbug," by the discovery of 
the Glaciers of the Nile in the Mountains of the Moon, 
where he placed them seventeen centuries ago.* 

During our short stay at Geneva, and whilst proceed- 
ing along the northern side of the lake, we were par- 
ticularly favoured in the weather. The summit of Mont 
Blanc was distinctly ^visible without intermission the 
whole time the mountain remained within the range of 
our sight. Not a cloud obscured it, nor a mist deadened 
the sharpness of its outline; and never could it have 
been seen to greater advantage. A Swiss gentleman, 
who was travelling in the same railway- carriage with 
ourselves, assured us that during the whole course of 
his life he had never seen the mountain so distinctlv : 
and ' Murray' tells us that, on an average, it is not 
visible more than sixty days in the whole year. 

The Simplon Pass had to be crossed on a sledge, the 
snow having already fallen in considerable quantities, 
though the weather was fine for the time of year, and 
not remarkably cold. We chose this Pass of the Alps 
on our present journey, on account of my husband' s 
having an objection to go twice over the same ground, 
if he can avoid it. This was the sixth time of his pass- 
ing the Alps, but I have as yet crossed them only twice. 

* See Dr. Beke's work, < The Sources of the Nile ' (London, I860), 
page 28 ; and his ' Lecture on the Sources of the Nile, and on the 
Means requisite for their final Determination,' delivered at the London 
Institution on January 20th, 1864 (privately printed), page 26. 



28 



A PTLGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



Of the Lago di Garda we had but an imperfect view 
while stopping at Desenzano. This we regretted, as it 
is said to possess greater natural beauties, and also a 
milder climate, than the other lakes of the Alps, which 
are more lauded perhaps only because they happen to 
be better known. Last year we visited the three cele- 
brated Italian lakes of Corno, Lago Maggiore, and Lu- 
gano, and also that of Lucerne, and this year we have 
seen Lake Leman; but, as far as we might judge from 
such a hurried glance, none of them are comparable 
to the classical Benacus, with its lovely peninsula of 
Sermio, now converted into an island. 

At Desenzano our railway carriages were transferred 
to Austrian engine-drivers and officials, under whose 
charge we proceeded to Peschiera, one of the fortresses 
of the famed Quadrilateral, where we were subjected to 
a police and custom-house inspection. Nothing could 
be more marked than the difference between the conduct 
of the Austrian officials and of those of the countries 
we had previously traversed. From the lowest, I might 
almost say to the highest, direct, and in some cases, 
urgent demands were made for gratuities, in return for 
the slightest services rendered; and even when no de- 
mand was made, we were given pretty plainly to under- 
stand that a present would not only be acceptable, but 
was actually expected. What can be the cause of this ? 
Are the Austrian employes so badly paid as to render it 
necessary for them to eke out their pittance by means 



FEOM ENGLAND TO BEYEOUT. 



29 



of extortions from travellers ? On the Lombard side of 
the frontiers, where the Austrian rule prevailed only 
a few years ago, we never noticed any attempt to ask 
for money • and there were no signs of distress on the 
one side more than on the other. Indeed, if the flourish- 
ing state of the fertile plain watered by the Po and its 
numerous tributaries, is to be regarded as a test of the 
treatment which the inhabitants experienced from the 
Austrian Government while under its sway, the conclu- 
sion can only be that the treatment was most paternal 
and beneficent ; so that the conduct of the officials in 
the Venetian provinces must, I apprehend, be caused 
by the fact that they, rather than the people at large, 
are badly treated. 

As regards the Lombards, it is only to be hoped that 
they have not, after all, exchanged King Log for King 
Stork. That they have an idea of something of the sort, 
is evident from the following anecdote related to us by 
a Milanese gentleman. A Lombard farmer called in a 
couple of Austrians to strip his mulberry-trees of their 
leaves ; but they worked so slowly and so badly, that he 
was obliged to dismiss them. Two Piedmontese then 
offered their services, and were engaged ; and these 
worked so diligently, that when they brought in their 
stock of leaves in the evening, the good farmer could 
not help exclaiming, "Per Bacco ! Mi hanno pelato 
questi Piemontesi piii in un giorno che quei Tedeschi in 
una settimana."- — " By Jove ! These Piedmontese have 



30 



A PILGRIMAGE TO BAR RAN. 



stripped me more in a day than those Austrians did in a 
week." 

At Venice we were unable to stay more than three 
days, as we had taken our passage by the Austrian 
Lloyd's steamer from Trieste to Alexandria, and were 
forced to tear ourselves away. There was consequently 
no time, and we had little inclination, to go sight-seeing ; 
for we had more than enough to do to wander about 
in a gondola, and gaze on the endless beauties of this 
extraordinary place. We were most fortunate in the 
weather, and yet more so in a bright full moon, which 
made the night even more lovely than the day. Well 
indeed does this city deserve its title of La bella Venezia ; 
and its beauty is of that singular and peculiar character, 
that to be understood it must be seen. It is in this 
sense undoubtedly that Shakespeare, in 'Love's Labour's 
Lost/ makes Holofernes exclaim, 

" Yinegia ! Yin eg i a ! 
Chi non ti vede, ei non ti pregia." 

One building, which few go to see perhaps, but which 
we felt a special interest in visiting, though the ap- 
proach to it is certainly anything but inviting, is the 
house once inhabited by Marco Polo, the famous traveller 
in the thirteenth century, whose marvellous account of 
Prester John, the mighty Christian ruler of Abascia, gave 
rise to the notion, which so long prevailed, that that 
mysterious potentate was the King of Abessinia. This 
house, which was formerly the residence of the noble 



FEOM ENGLAND TO BEYEOUT. 



31 



family De' Poli, forms one side of a court near the Teatro 
Malibran, and at the angle is a tower, the rich Saracenic 
doorway of which is now bricked up, and the lower por- 
tion of the building has been converted into a low drink - 
ing-house; thus showing "to what base uses we may 
return." 

We left Venice at night by the railway to Trieste ; 
and when early in the following morning we reached the 
mountains overhanging the northern end of the Adriatic, 
we experienced an intensely cold and violent north wind, 
which continued blowing during the whole day of our 
stay at Trieste. We were assured, however, that this 
was but a slight specimen of the bora, and that had it 
raged as it does sometimes, we should not have been able 
to stand up against it. We were at the same time told 
of the laughable incident of a body of Austrian soldiers, 
who, as they were crossing one of the bridges, were, 
malgre eux, compelled by the wind to proceed au pas de 
charge. Those who have witnessed the stiffness and pre- 
cision of these over-drilled, yet remarkably fine soldiers, 
may fancy their horror at being thus driven on in spite 
of themselves. I asked whether they were not punished 
for this breach of discipline, and was assured quite se- 
riously that it was a case of force majeure, the mean- 
ing of which expression my long residence in Mauritius 
enabled me fully to appreciate. 

In that island, which is still governed under the 
.French laws, its inhabitants being more French than 



32 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



English, the allegation of force majeure is an excuse for 
almost anything. Or it may, instead, be un cas excep- 
tionnel ; or else it is attended with circonstances atte- 
nuates, — which, by the bye, would generally be regarded 
in England as " aggravating" circumstances. If these 
excuses all fail, the offender will fall back on his bonnes 
intentions ; and, when beaten even on this ground, the 
oldest and most hardened hypocrite has yet another last 
appeal to your mercy as un pauvre pere de famille — 
which there is no resisting. 

Luckily for us, the bora ceased its violence before we 
left the harbour of Trieste ; and during the greater part 
of the five days of our voyage to Alexandria we seemed 
to be on a lake rather than on the open sea. This en- 
abled me, who am generally so great a sufferer at sea, to 
remain on deck more than it is usually possible for me 
to do ; and after our departure from Corfu, where we 
stopped the greater part of the day, I actually kept up 
till late at night, enjoying the view of the coast and 
islands, along and among which the steamer pursued her 
rapid and steady course by the light of a brilliant moon 
in a cloudless sky. To speak of Sappho's Leap, of 
Ithaca, of Navarino, and the many other memorable 
spots which we thus hurried past, would however be out 
of place here. Suffice it to say that we arrived safely 
at Alexandria on the 25th of November ; and that, after 
waiting there a week for a steamer, we proceeded to 
Beyrout, at which place our Pilgrimage may properly be 
said to have commenced. 



33 



CHAPTER II. 

BE YE OUT. 

Our stay at Beyrout was under very unfavourable cir- 
cumstances. My husband's sprained ankle having be- 
come worse instead of better on board ship, he was, soon 
after landing, compelled to put himself on the sick-list, 
and to call in a doctor, which unavoidably clelaved our 
departure for Damascus. I was necessarily kept much 
in the 'house with him ; besides which, the weather 
was so very bad, that it was only occasionally I could 
manage to get out of doors. The season had been a 
most extraordinary one; there having been. no rain for 
two months. Such an occurrence had not been known 
for fourteen years, when the rain, it is said, held back 
till New Year. Whether on that occasion the drought 
was accompanied by any malady, I am unable to say ; 
but this year it was the cause of a most extensive epi- 
demic, which at the time of our arrival was still raging, 
though fortunately," from the change of weather which 
had just set in, its violence had considerably abated. 

D 



34 



A PILGK1MAGE TO HAEEAN. 



The disease was described to me as being of a peculiar 
character ; the chief symptoms were pains in the head 
and back, lasting about eight days and ending in fever, 
which, strangely enough, had no thirst attending it, but 
laid the patient prostrate, and left him very weak and 
low. When once it entered a house, it did not pass over 
a single inmate ; and of the sixty or seventy thousand 
inhabitants of Beyrout, I was told that scarcely five 
hundred had escaped. This may perhaps be a little 
exaggerated, but it only proves the almost universality 
of the disease. Certainly, nearly every person I met 
had suffered from it ; though fortunately it was not at 
all fatal, as I was told, no one had died from it. 

So long had the drought continued and with such 
serious consequences, that at length it was decided by 
the authorities that prayers for rain should be offered up 
in all the places of public worship, whatever their reli- 
gious persuasion. On Friday, November 29th, the Mo- 
hammedans were to pray in their mosques; on Satur- 
day, the 30th, the Jews in their synagogues ; and on 
Sunday, December 1st (the Sunday before our arrival), 
the Christians in their churches. But during the night 
of Thursday, or as the Orientals would say, of Friday, — 
that is to say, the night between Thursday and Friday, 
' — a marked change took place in the weather. There 
was much thunder and lightning, with a gathering of 
clouds, and every appearance of the near approach of 
rain. 



BEYKOUT. 



35 



As Fuad Pasha, who was then at Beyrouth did not 
think it proper that all the preparations for prayer 
should have been made in vain, he rose early in the 
morning and ordered that the ministers of the several 
religions should at once meet in the public place, outside 
the walls of the city ; and in order that his command 
should be obeyed, he sent his kaiudsses round the town 
to oblige the inhabitants to close their shops and attend 
the public prayers. By this means seven or eight thou- 
sand persons were collected together. The ceremony 
was commenced by the Moslems, who were followed by 
the Christians, the Jews coming last. Immediately 
after the first had finished their prayers, or, according to 
another version, as soon as the second had begun theirs, 
the first drop of rain fell ; but according to a third ver- 
sion, it was not till the Jews had unrolled their Tor ah 
that it really began raining. Thus they each took to 
themselves, and no doubt with equal reason, the credit 
of having caused the rain. 

As for Fuad Pasha, so prepared was he for the result, 
that he took with him his mackintosh ready to put on 
when the rain fell, so as to protect his splendid new uni- 
form. In this he showed himself to be a better prophet 
than the founder of his religion, who indeed never as- 
sumed to himself the title of the ''Prophet" of God, 
given to him by his followers. When asked to foretell 
when rain would fall, Mohammed is said to have replied, 
"When you hear the thunder, see the lightning, and 



36 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



feel the water running from the gutters at the tops of 
houses, then you may be sure of rain." 

This rain-making of Fuad Pasha took place only a few 
days before our arrival, and he did it so effectually that 
the place had been deluged ever since. Though Bey- 
rout does not usually suffer from drought, yet the rains 
are only occasional and slight; so that these almost in- 
cessant torrents afflicted the inhabitants to nearly as 
great an extent as the previous want of rain. 

Having performed his mission, the Governor returned 
to Damascus for a few days, previously to coming down 
again to Bey rout to embark on board a Turkish frigate, 
which had been sent to convey him to Constantinople. 
The departure from Syria of this able and energetic mi- 
nister was deeply and universally regretted. The state 
of the province since the deplorable disturbances of 1860 
had been such, that it was feared his departure would 
only be the precursor of other outrages, which nothing 
but a strong will guiding a strong hand could suppress. 
Prom all that w r e could gather, Fuad Pasha seems to be 
the person best suited for the government of Syria, and 
that, in fact, the only effectual way of reducing its dis- 
cordant elements to order would be to vest the hereditary 
government in him and his descendants, like Egypt in 
the family of Mohammed Ali. This is said to have been 
the desire of Fuad Pasha-himself, and it was doubtless 
the main reason of his being withdrawn so soon from his 
independent administration in Syria, to take part in the 



BEYROUT. 



37 



court intrigues of Constantinople. We were informed 
that several baits had been held out to him before his 
appointment to the Grand Viziership ; which latter was 
either too tempting to be resisted or too imperative to 
be refused. As it was, his Excellency w T as evidently in 
no hurry to depart; the frigate with its steam-tender 
being kept lying in Beyrout roads till Saturday, the 
14th December, the day of our own departure for Da- 
mascus. 

My husband's being unable to leave the house obliged 
him to send by a messenger, to their respective addresses, 
the letters of introduction which we had brought with 
us. They were only a few, as when we left England we 
had no intention of making any stay here. We were 
not long before we received visits from Mr. Moore, her 
Majesty's Consul- General, and his son and Vice-Consul, 
Mr. Noel Moore, the Rev. Dr. Thomson, and Mr. 
Henry Heald. They all most kindly offered us every 
assistance in their power; but we had no occasion to 
avail ourselves of the aid of any one but the last-named 
gentleman, to whom we shall ever feel ourselves indebted 
for the great trouble he gave himself on our account. 

Our steamer having brought from Alexandria the 
startling intelligence that war had been declared be- 
tween England and the United States of America, it 
may well be imagined that the European and American 
residents here were in a state of great excitement, and 
desirous of obtaining all the information it might be in 



38 



A PILGEIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



our power to give. We could of course only confirm the 
report that two telegrams had been received at Alex- 
andria just as we were on the point of leaving, and that 
the news was generally believed to be true. It was not 
until long afterwards that we ourselves learned that 
there was no foundation for the report. 

The hotel at which we resided during our stay in 
Bey rout (the only one within the town), is anything but 
clean; but the host is attentive and obliging, the provi- 
sions good of their kind, the table d'hote very fair, and 
the charges reasonable. There is another hotel of the 
same name at Ras Bey rout, the point running out into 
the sea about a mile west of the town. Before leaving 
England we had been strongly recommended to take up 
our quarters at the latter place ; but, although we might 
have done this with advantage during the summer 
months, when I can fancy a residence in the narrow 
streets of an Oriental town to be anything but agree- 
able or even wholesome, it would have been a great mis- 
take had we followed our friend's advice at the season of 
the year when we were there. 

Among the residents in our hotel was Omar Pasha, 
the commander of the troops, with several officers of his 
staff, w r ho usually dined at the table d'hote. Tn conse- 
quence of my husband's indisposition, we took our meals 
in our own room till the last day or two, when we dined 
at the table d'hote, at which we met several of the 
Turkish officers, though not Omar Pasha himself. They 



BEYEOUT. 



39 



all made themselves most amiable, handing us fruit, 
offering us champagne, with all kinds of civilities. They 
made no scruple of drinking wine or of eating ham, 
which, however, was conveniently presented to them by 
our host Andrea, not as the flesh of the unclean animal, 
but as mountain mutton; which no doubt completely 
eased their consciences. I here took my first lesson in 
Arabic, and found that " Wallahi," "Bismillah," "In- 
shallah," " Alhamdulillah," " Mashallah," and "Istagh- 
farallah 99 are by far the most frequently recurring ex- 
pressions in that language, or in Turkish, which in this 
respect is the same. Indeed, if not sufficient to enable 
one to take an active part in a conversation, they are 
enough to reply to almost anything that may be said. 

I am so great a sufferer from sea-sickness, that it was 
some days after our arrival before I felt myself equal to 
any kind of exertion, and the very unfavourable state of 
the weather added to my indisposition ; but as my health 
improved and my husband's foot was also getting better, 
I began to make preparations for our intended journey. 

One of my first and most important duties was to open 
the chest containing my photographic apparatus, for the 
purpose of seeing that all was in order and fit for use ; 
when, to my great dismay, I found everything in the 
utmost confusion, and worst of all, the most important 
article for work, the nitrate of silver bath, broken, and 
(as I for a time feared) not to be mended or replaced. 
Such a loss would have been irremediable ; and after 



40 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAEEAN. 



having worked hard in England for several months to 
practise photography solely for the purpose of making 
use of the art in this journey, it can hardly be imagined 
what vexation I felt at thus finding that all my pains and 
expense were likely to prove of no avail. However, 
these were only the thoughts of a few minutes. I was 
not to be altogether disheartened so easily. I was de- 
termined, at all events, to make an effort ; and my next 
business consequently was to sally forth in search of 
friends, from whom I might hope to obtain advice and 
assistance. 

I soon ascertained there was in Beyrout such a person 
as a photographer, and one only, namely M. Sonnino, a 
pharmacien (chemist and druggist) . To him I directed 
my steps, finding my way as best I could from directions 
given me by the master of our hotel ; and after wander- 
ing alone —for my husband, though better, was still con- 
fined to the house — through numerous narrow dirty 
lanes and busy bazaars swarming with gaily dressed 
Syrians, I reached the place — the open space already 
mentioned, just outside the town, in which Fuad Pasha 
had assembled the people to offer prayers for rain. 
Through M. Sonnino' s kindness in allowing me to bor- 
row of him what he could not sell, and otherwise sup- 
plying me with the materials of which I stood in need, 
I fortunately succeeded in repairing my losses. 

This was not the only occasion on which I took a 
solitary walk. On another day, being Sunday, I went 



BEYEOUT. 



41 



a long way round the town and along the sea-shore, and 
was greatly pleased and amused in passing by and watch- 
ing the different costumes of the gaily dressed men and 
women, who all appeared to be in their holiday clothes, 
and holiday making. Notwithstanding the crowds of 
persons I fell in with, I did not experience the slightest 
insult or inconvenience, but on the contrary was treated 
with the greatest politeness and respect. Every one 
made room for me to pass ; and there was no pushing or 
offensive curiosity. Of course the people looked at me, 
as I looked at them ; but I must confess that at Bey- 
rout I could go out alone and walk about with less 
chance of being molested or embarrassed than in either 
Paris or London. 

The important matter of my photographic apparatus 
being satisfactorily arranged, and my husband being 
happily quite recovered, we lost no time in returning 
the visits of our several friends, and taking leave of them 
preparatory to our departure for Damascus. For this 
purpose we had to hire horses. At the British Consu- 
late my husband alighted, and while he entered to pay 
his respects to the Consul- General, Mr. Noel Moore 
came down and kept me company. Among the topics 
of conversation, one which interested us much was the 
mutilation by the French of the ancient Egyptian tablet 
at Nahr-el-Kelb. On this subject, however, Mr. Moore 
evidently did not care to say a great deal ; neither had 
my husband any motive for speaking to the Consul- 



42 A PILGRIMAGE TO HARE AN. 

General about it, regarding it solely as a matter of his- 
tory deserving of being placed on record, and having 
already obtained from private sources the fullest infor- 
mation respecting it, as I shall have shortly occasion to 
relate. 

Mr. Moore was so good as to invite us to dine with 
him and Mrs. Moore at their residence, a little way out 
of town ; but this gratification was denied us. Just as 
the time arrived for starting, and our horses were at the 
door (for there was no other means of conveyance), it 
began to rain in such torrents, that our going there was 
not to be thought of. We were therefore, at the last 
moment, obliged to send our excuses. 

When we called at Dr. Thomson's I had the pleasure 
of making the acquaintance of Mrs. Thomson and her 
daughters, who had been prevented from calling on me 
by the fever, from the effects of which they were still 
suffering. On telling them of our contemplated journey 
from Damascus over the plains of Hauran to Mount 
Gilead, and so across the Jordan to Shechem, they ap- 
peared quite horrified at the idea, not so much on account 
of the season of the year as of the troubled state of the 
times ; and both they and Dr. Thomson himself strongly 
recommended us not to attempt that road, as they were 
sure we should never succeed in getting through. Dr. 
Thomson said he had tried repeatedly to reach Gadara, 
but had never been able to do so on account of the 
Beduins ; and when we explained that we had no intea- 



BETKOUT. 



43 



tion of crossing the Jordan so far north as Gadara, our 
explanation only made matters worse. Fuad Pasha's 
being on the point of leaving Syria was urged as an 
additional objection to our journey, it being more than 
probable that fresh disturbances would break out after 
his departure. His going away just at this moment was 
certainly to be regretted ; but I need scarcely say that 
neither this circumstance nor the representations of our 
friends had the slightest effect on us. We had come to 
Syria with the determination of making our journey, 
upon a settled plan and by a road already well consi- 
dered and distinctly marked out ; and it must, indeed, 
be a case of force majeure which should prevent us from 
carrying our determination into effect. 

From Dr. Thomson's we proceeded to the printing- 
office of the American Mission, where my husband called 
to see Dr. Vandyck, who is married to one of Mrs. 
Thomson's daughters. While my husband went in, I 
remained on horseback at the door, and amused myself 
with the children coming out of school, ail looking nice 
and clean, and some of them very pretty girls with rosy 
cheeks and fine black eyes and hair ; but unfortunately 
they, and indeed almost all the inhabitants, young and 
old, were looking more or less ill from the effects of the 
late fever. 

Dr. Vandyck is a profound Biblical scholar, and to 
him my husband briefly explained his views respecting 
Aram Naharaim. He at once seized the point, admitted 



44 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



the force of the argument, but opposed to it tradition, 
universal acceptance, etc. ; as if error, by being reiterated, 
could ever become truth ! 

Our rides to pay our visits and my own solitary wan- 
derings enabled me to see a good deal of Beyrout, con- 
sidering the short time we remained there. I had heard 
and read of the filthy state of the streets, and can well 
fancy what they would have been, had not the larger 
portion of the filth been removed by the late heavy rains. 
But, although the old town is very dirty, and the streets 
cramped and confined, Beyrout is nevertheless a thriving 
place, and has very much improved of late. All around 
they have begun making good carriage-roads, for which 
I believe the French are chiefly to be thanked. There 
is one excellent road just completed by the French Con- 
sul-General, extending the whole way from the Consu- 
late to his private residence outside the town. The ex- 
pense of the labour, I was told, is borne by the Consul, 
or more probably by the French Government, the ground 
being given by the local authorities. A carriage-road is 
also being constructed from Beyrout to Damascus, of 
which one half, as far as Zahleh, was opened last year, 
and the remainder was intended to be completed in the 
course of the ensuing year. They have started omnibuses 
about the environs of Beyrout, as well as between that 
place and Zahleh ; and there is, further, an electric tele- 
graph line in successful operation between Beyrout and 
Damascus. These are certainly convincing proofs of 



BEYROUT. 



45 



the extension of European civilization to this somewhat 
out-of-the-way portion of Asiatic Turkey. 

The produce of the surrounding country consists prin- 
cipally of silk and oil. From the interior come grain, 
fruits, etc. The imports, however, far exceed the ex- 
ports, and for this reason the exchange is very favourable 
here for drawers of bills. In most places travellers com- 
plain of getting less for the pound sterling than its full 
value. At Beyrout they actually receive more than its 
nominal value ! The great obstacle in the way of im- 
provement is the impossibility of obtaining grants of 
land from the State. We w r ere told that the Turks will 
not even grant a lease to a native who is supported by 
Europeans. Then there is no sufficient power to keep 
out the Beduins, which renders agricultural property 
always insecure. 

One of the greatest difficulties with travellers in the 
Levant is the obtaining of a suitable and trustworthy 
interpreter and guide, — or dragoman, as he is called, — a 
man who, for a certain price per day, provides all the 
necessaries for travelling, food, lodging, animals, etc. 
These dragomans are to be met with in great numbers 
at Beyrout, but few of them are to be depended on, and 
it is always a most unpleasant and difficult task to make 
a selection. Through the friendly intervention of Mr. 
Heald, we were relieved from all trouble in this respect ; 
as he recommended to us a Maronite Christian, a na- 
tive of Beyrout, whom he had known for upwards of 



46 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



twenty years, as being in his opinion the very best of 
his class. 

This man, Mikhail Hene by name, is one of the oldest 
and best-known dragomans. I use the regular plural, 
because I do not see why we should say dragomen, as 
I find the word in Murray's ' Handbook for Syria and 
Palestine/ any more than Homen, T^ovmen, and Germed, 
instead of Romans, Normans, and Germans. The only 
difficulty we had with Mikhail was in settling the price 
to be paid him for his services. He is noted for driving 
a hard bargain ; but, on the other hand, when once the 
bargain is struck, he has the reputation of performing 
his part of it in a fair and liberal manner, and I must 
admit that as regards ourselves we were on the whole 
satisfied with his treatment of us. Not being sure, 
however, whether the state of the country south of Da- 
mascus would allow of our performing our contemplated 
journey across the plains of Hauran, we were unwilling 
to do more in the first instance than agree with Mikhail 
for the trip to Damascus. For this, after much haggling, 
it was stipulated that we should pay him <£15. 10s. ster- 
ling: a very long price, but taking into consideration the 
season of the year, we were assured it was not altogether 
unreasonable, as he was for this sum to find us every- 
thing, wine included. 

We had anticipated that we should be able to make 
arrangements for going a great part of the way to Da- 
mascus by the French omnibus running upon the new 



BEYKOUT. 



47 



road as far as Zahleh ; but, upon inquiry on the day of 
our arrival, we found that in consequence of the snow 
on the mountains and the little traffic at this season of 
the year, the omnibuses would be discontinued for the 
winter, and all the horses for relays taken off the road, 
as soon as Fuad Pasha, who was expected on the follow- 
ing day, should return from Damascus. We had there- 
fore to make the whole journey on horseback, which, as 
it must necessarily be our mode of travelling after leav- 
ing Damascus, was perhaps quite as well. 



48 



CHAPTER III. 

EXCUKSION TO NAHE-EL-KELB. 

Having made all our preparations for leaving Bey rout, 
nothing remained for us to do, before commencing our 
journey to Damascus, but to make an excursion to 
Nahr-el-Kelb, or Dog River, as the ancient Lycus, or 
Wolf River, is now designated. 

When in Paris on our way to Syria, my husband had 
been assured by one of his scientific friends there of the 
total incorrectness of a statement in the English news- 
papers a short time previously,"^ that one of the ancient 
Egyptian sculptures on the rocks at Nahr-el-Kelb had 
been defaced by order of the French Government, for 
the purpose of inserting in its place an inscription com- 
memorative of the presence of the French army in Syria 
during the years 1860 and 1861. On inquiry at Bey- 
rout, we not only found the fact to be precisely as stated, 
but we heard some curious particulars in connection 
with the subject, which are well deserving of being men- 
tioned. 

* See the ' Times ' of August 23rd, 1861. 



EXCUKSION TO NAHE-EL-KELB. 



49 



Shortly after the departure of the French army, the 
inscription in question was in its turn partially defaced 
by two Englishmen. This act led to a correspondence 
between the Consuls- General of France and England, in 
the course of which the destruction of the ancient monu- 
ment was recognized as the act of the French Govern- 
ment, which certainly would not otherwise have been 
believed. The circumstances, as far as we could ascer- 
tain them, are as follows : — 

Two young Englishmen, Mr. B. and Mr. L., went 
one day in July last to Nahr-el-Kelb, to inspect the 
well-known Egyptian and Assyrian sculptures on the 
rocks; when, after lunching there, they amused them- 
selves with throwing stones at the particular tablet 
which the French have appropriated to themselves. On 
learning this, the French Consul- General, the Comte 
de Bentivoglio, wrote to the English Consul -General, 
complaining of the offence. At first he attributed the 
act to two officers of the British Navy, but Admiral 
Muncly soon caused this charge to be retracted. The 
real aggressors having at length been discovered, they 
were required to make an apology, which one of them 
did in the following letter, addressed to the British 
Consul- General : — 

"Beyrout, August 1st, 1861. 

" Sir, — In reference to the complaint made to you by 
the French Consul-General respecting the obliteration 
of certain letters on the tablet at the Dog Biver, I have 

E> 



50 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARE AN. 



to confirm what I stated to you in the course of my con- 
versation with you upon the subject this morning, which 
I now beg to repeat in writing. 

" The facts of the case are simply these : — I went out 
there about three weeks ago in company with a friend 
(who has since returned to England), bent entirely upon 
pleasure, and without the remotest intention of doing 
aught which could call forth complaint from any one. 
We examined all the tablets, commencing at the top 
of the hill, and finally reached the one in question, 
which, according to our guide-book, should have been in 
a fair state of preservation. We found that the surface 
had been smoothed and used as a tablet for the names 
of the different regiments forming the French army 
at that time in Syria ; whereas it appeared to us that 
a monument of such undoubted antiquity might have 
been respected, and the inscription carved elsewhere. 

" We never for one moment supposed that the work 
had been ordered or even authorized by the French 
Government, but concluded that it had been done by 
some officers of the army without any authority what- 
ever ; and, in a moment of thoughtlessness, we oblite- 
rated the letters referred to. Now that I am informed 
that the tablet was placed there by desire of the French 
Government, I am most willing to express my deep 
regret at the circumstance, and also to declare myself 
ready to bear the expense of the restoration of the 
figures defaced. 



EXCUESION TO NAHK-EL-KELB. 



51 



w Trusting that this explanation will be deemed satis- 
factory, I am/' etc. 

It is not very surprising that this letter should have 
been deemed anything but satisfactory by the French 
Consul ; but as the English Consul declined taking fur- 
ther steps in the matter, it was referred to the French 
and English Ambassadors at Constantinople, — with what 
result T am unable to say. The friend who gave my 
husband the copy of Mr. L.'s letter, and furnished 
him with most of the foregoing particulars, assured us 
that the letter was written in perfect good faith • other- 
wise, we should have imagined the writer to have had 
some satirical meaning, in saying that, when he was in- 
formed that the tablet was placed there by the desire of 
the French Government, he w r as willing to express his 
deep regret at the circumstance ; and also in affirming 
his readiness to bear the expense of the restoration of 
the figures defaced ; the meaning of which we were told 
was the restoration of the Roman numerals belonging 
to the name "Napoleon III./' which had principally 
been injured by the stones thrown, and not that of the 
ancient Egyptian figures exising on the tablet before it 
was defaced. 

Curiously enough, one of the offending Englishmen 
was connected with a newspaper which has the reputa- 
tion of being the organ of a leading Member of the 
British Government. Had this fact been known at the 

E 2 



52 



A PTLGETMAGE TO HARKAN. 



time, the idle freak of a couple of young men might have 
had attached to it a grave political meaning. 

The most extraordinary part of the transaction is 
that the inscription should have been placed there by 
order of the French Government ; for so the French 
Consul- General asserted it to be, and therefore the fact 
is not to be questioned. It was even said to have been 
done with the consent likewise of the Turkish Govern- 
ment ; though, on the other hand, we were assured that 
Fuad Pasha, on hearing this, denied it in the strongest 
and most unqualified terms. 

Of course we could not leave Beyrout without visiting 
Nahr-el-Kelb, and on Friday, the 13th of December, the 
day before our departure for Damascus, we started at 
nine o'clock in the morning, taking with us a couple of 
lads, the one carrying my photographic apparatus, and 
the other a basket of provisions, which Andrea and Mi- 
khail had prepared for us. The latter remained behind, 
to get all in readiness for our journey on the following 
day. We rode round by the new road, which is very 
good ; but when we got beyond the public place, the 
narrow streets through the suburbs were execrable, and 
so it continued till we had quite left the town. 

At a short distance from Beyrout, we passed the place 
where St. George is traditionally said to have killed the 
dragon, that was about to devour the king of Beyrouth 
daughter. Early travellers relate that on the spot a 
Christian chapel was erected, which was dedicated to the 



EXCURSION TO NAHR-EL-KELB. 



53 



hero-saint, but was afterwards " perverted to a mosque 
and there are yet to be seen the remains of an old brick 
building, which may possibly be the edifice in question. 
Near it there is, or was, a well — which however we did 
not see; and "they say that the dragon usually came 
out of the hole which is now the mouth of it." If a 
tradition thus circumstantially supported is not true, 
what can be the value of tradition ? 

Crossing the Nahr Beyrout by an old and not very 
safe bridge, we soon reached the sea-beach, along which 
we continued, crossing several fiumare or watercourses, 
which, owing to the heavy rains, were quite full. On 
coming to one of the broadest, being in advance of my 
husband, I rode down the bank into the stream • when, 
finding it deeper than I had expected, I tried to turn my 
horse back. But it was too late : I had already nearly 
reached the middle of the stream ; and the sand being 
very deep and the current strong, the animal, after strug- 
gling to clear himself, suddenly threw himself down on 
his left side and went almost entirely under water. I 
had providentially freed myself from the horse before he 
went down, and with great exertions I managed to reach 
the bank. But I was drenched through, and there was 
no house near, nor any means of drying my clothes ; 
while, to add to my discomfort, I was exposed to a pierc- 
ing cold wind, through which I had to ride for an hour 
and a half before reaching Nahr-el-Kelb. However, 
there was no remedy for it. One of our attendants had 



54 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



gone off some time before us, so that we were left with 
a single lad. He could only shriek and scream at the 
horse, which got up several times and sank again ; but 
at last recovering his feet, he started off up the stream, 
the boy running along the bank after him. So long were 
they away, that we began to fear we should not see either 
of them again. At length the lad appeared, leading 
the horse. Meanwhile I had been standing shivering in 
the cold ; but as soon as I got my horse, I mounted him 
and galloped on to warm myself, and we completed our 
journey without any further contre-iemps y arriving about 
noon. I was so thoroughly chilled, that my husband 
made me take some brandy, which recovered me a little, 
and we then sat down at a rude table, belonging to a 
sort of coffeehouse-keeper living in a little hovel there, 
and had our lunch. 

The only habitations are this coffee-house and the 
dwelling of the custom-house officer or toll-collector sta- 
tioned there. The toll-house stands close to a landing- 
place near the mouth of the river, commanding at the 
same time the road from Bey rout, which, after passing 
round the precipitous bluff of the rocks along the edge 
of which it has been cut, continues down past the land- 
ing-place, and thence up the side of the river, which is 
crossed by a bridge. On the opposite side are some build- 
ings, one of which is a mill supplied with water from 
some small streams falling down the side of the rocks. 
There is another road of more ancient date higher up 



EXCUESION TO NAHK-EL-KELB. 



55 



the rocks on this side of the river, but it is no longer 
practicable. It is on the face of the rocks, overhanging 
the sides of these two roads, that the ancient sculptured 
tablets are to be seen. 

After looking about us a little, T began my prepara- 
tions for taking a photograph of the tablet containing the 
French inscription ; and as the first requisite was a dark 
room, I summarily ejected our host from his hut and 
took possession of it, shutting the door and stopping up 
all the holes and crannies (of which there were not a few) 
with orange-coloured calico. While I was thus engaged, 
my husband occupied himself with examining the ancient 
tablets, and copying the modern inscription, about which, 
before adverting to my own labours, I must first say a 
few words. 

The tablets, with the ancient sculptures still remain- 
ing or said to be remaining on them, are described in 
Murray's ' Handbook for Syria and Palestine/ and more 
in detail in the works of various travellers ; so that it 
would be a work of supererogation on my part to repeat 
the description of them here. It may merely be said that 
there are nine in all, of which six are generally con- 
sidered to be Assyrian, and the remaining three Egyp- 
tian. They are not placed in regular order, but the two 
kinds are intermixed, some being along the upper, and 
the others along the lower road. Of these latter the first 
in order at the foot of the pass, close to the toll-house, — 
being the lowest, the most accessible, and the most con- 



A PILGETMAGE TO HARRAN, 



spicuous, — is the tablet on which is now the French in- 
scription. Tt has been hitherto distinguished by travel- 
lers as "No, 1. Egyptian." How it will be described 
in future I cannot pretend to say ; but, as we saw it, the 
ancient tablet which is generally supposed to have con- 
tained a memorial of the Egyptian conqueror Sesostris, 
bore the following modern French inscription :— 

1860-1861 
NAPOLEON III 
EMPEREUR DES FRAN£AIS 
ARMEE ERANCAISE 
GENERAL DE BEAUFORT D'HAUTPOUL 
COMMANDANT-EN-CHEF 
COLONEL OSMONT 
CHEF D'ETAT-MAJOR-GENERAL 
GENERAL DUCROT 
COMMANDANT l/lNFANTERIE 



5 me de Ligne. 
13 me de Ligne. 
16 me Bataillon Chas- 
seurs. 
l er Zouaves. 



2 me de Genie. 
l er d'Artillerie. 
10 me d'Artillerie. 
Services Adminis- 
tratifs. 



l er Hussards. 
l er Chasseurs d'Afrique. 
2 me Chasseurs d'Afrique. 
2 me Spahis. 



As regards the condition of the tablet before this in- 
scription was engraved on it, there is a difference of 
opinion. The toll -collector informed us that it contained 
a figure or figures, like those still indistinctly visible on 
the tablets Nos. 2 and 3, and that the French smoothed 
the surface preparatory to cutting on it their own in- 
scription. At Beyrout we heard that Dr. Pestalozzi, 



EXCUESION TO NAHK-EL-KELB. 



57 



an Italian physician, who has been in the habit of pass- 
ing by the place almost weekly for some fifteen years 
past, says positively that there was no sculpture what- 
ever. Whether there were any figures or not, and 
whether these figures were well defined or nearly ob- 
literated by the hand of Time, it is manifest that there 
must have been some inequalities of surface, which had 
to be removed ; as, in fact, the chippings of stone, which 
we ourselves saw lying in no inconsiderable quantity at 
the foot of the tablet, plainly demonstrate. Nos. 2 and 3 
are very much water- and w 7 eather-worn, and it requires 
the sharp eye of a very skilful antiquary to make out 
what is on them ; but still there clearly is something. 
The cornices of the three tablets are complete and dis- 
tinct, and one would imagine that they had all been in 
about the same condition. There are weeds growing on 
the face of each, which tends to destroy the surface. 

The French inscription appears to have been very 
little defaced by Messrs. B. and L.; chiefly the nume- 
rals " III./' which have been restored by the French 
Consul. But it would seem that other iconoclasts have 
been at work ; for the toll-collector said that two Euro- 
peans had fired pistols from the roof of the coffee-house, 
and, in fact, the marks of several bullets are distinctly 
visible in the lower part of the inscription. It is a great 
pity that the French should have been so ill-advised as 
to choose this ancient tablet for their vain-glorious in- 
scription. There are plenty of flat rocks, on which there 



58 



A PILGEIMAGE TO HARK AN. 



is ample space for them to have inscribed the name of 
every soldier of the army of occupation, had they been 
desirous of doing so. 

The pass round the end of the precipitous ridge of 
rocks, which forms the southern bank of the ancient Ly- 
cus, must always have been a terror to invading armies ; 
and the surmounting of it may fairly have been deemed 
an exploit worthy of commemoration by each successive 
conqueror. That, in this character, a Sennacherib should 
have mutilated the monument of an earlier Sesostris, 
might be regarded as not unnatural, and therefore venial ; 
but that, at the present day, the temporary occupiers of 
Syria — not in their own name only, but as the represen- 
tatives of the other great Powers of Europe, and as the 
friends of the Government of the country — should have 
thus appropriated to themselves this venerable relic of 
past ages, would hardly be credited, were it not an au- 
thenticated fact. And the worst feature of the case is, 
that it has not even the excuse of being a memorial of 
the passage of the army of occupation or any portion of 
it ; for, if I am not misinformed, the French entered 
and left Syria by sea, and none of them, except the per- 
petrators of this act of vandalism, were ever nearer to 
the spot than Beyrout. 

Returning to my own occupation in the dark room, I 
must mention that, after shutting the door and preparing 
my first plate, I was surprised, on attempting to go out, 
to find the door locked. In vain I called to the people 



EXCUESION TO NAHR-EL-KELJB. 



59 



outside to open it. They answered me, it is true ; but 
what they said was quite unintelligible to me. My 
husband was away, pursuing his examination of the dif- 
ferent tablets, and thus some little time elapsed before 
he came to my assistance. Finding how I was circum- 
stanced, he soon made the people understand that I 
wanted the door opened. He was told that the key was 
inside ; but with all my searching for it I could find no 
key. At length he bethought himself that the door 
might fasten with the old Egyptian lock, which turned 
out to be the case. On this he desired me to look or 
rather to feel, not for a key, but for a bit of wood with 
pegs sticking out of it, which I should find hanging 
somewhere against the back of the door, with which I 
should be able to undo the lock. After groping about 
m the dark, I at length found this curious old wooden 
key, and set myself free. Had not my husband thought 
of its being an Egyptian lock, there is no telling how 
long I might have remained a prisoner. 

When I had completed my preparations in the dark 
room, I placed my camera on the roof of the coffee- 
house — which, by the bye, nearly fell through with me — 
and took " Tablet No. 1, Napoleon vice Sesostris." The 
weather was cold and the day very overcast, besides 
which, the tablet faces the north, and was therefore 
quite in the shade, so that my first attempt was a total 
failure. The second plate was more successful, but I 
unfortunately let it fall. The third was tolerably good. 



60 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAERAN. 



These were all taken with a single lens. I now washed 
the first plate, and using the double lens, took an instan- 
taneous photograph, which succeeded admirably. I 
only regretted that I had not brought several other 
plates, for the bridge and mill would have made more 
than one very pretty and effective picture. However, 
it was getting late, so we packed up and returned to 
Beyrout. 

The weather was extremely cold, and the sun was not 
very bright, but no rain fell the whole time we were out ; 
and the contrast between the road going and returning 
was quite wonderful, many of the fiumare having now 
not a drop of water in them. 

We reached the hotel at 6 p.m., having enjoyed on 
the whole a fine day, in spite of my ducking ; and after 
dinner, at which we had a band that continued playing 
during the evening, the company assembled in the court- 
yard of the hotel to see a fire-balloon ascend, — the chil- 
dren of Andrea, the hotel-keeper, dancing while it was 
getting ready. It was a lovely night, the moon being 
nearly at the full. In the course of the evening, Mr. 
Heald came to say good-bye, and went up with us on 
the terrace ; and after his departure, I sat up till a late 
hour, packing and preparing to start on the following 
morning. 



61 



CHAPTER IV. 

FROM BEYEOUT TO DAMASCUS, 

Saturday, December 14th. — We rose early in the 
morning, and had everything packed ready by the time 
Mikhail came for orders. The horses and mules were 
in readiness, he said, and it only remained for us to de- 
cide whether or not w T e w T ould start. It was a very 
rainy morning, and every one recommended us not to 
go ; but my husband thought it showed signs of clearing, 
so we decided on waiting till noon, and if it should 
then be fine w r e would commence our journey. Mean- 
while Fuad Pasha took his departure, going on board, 
with the ladies of his harem,— or, as one learns to say 
here, with his harim, — on whose account, it was said, he 
had been waiting for the sea to get calm. We went up 
on the terrace of the hotel to see him embark. All the 
authorities, together with the troops, were out in the 
pouring rain to witness his departure ; and there was a 
great firing of cannon, with other public demonstrations. 
Daoud Pasha came down from the Mountain. — bv which 
is to be understood Mount Lebanon,- — to see him off, 



62 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAEKAN. 



and then came to our hotel, with several officers in full 
uniform, and breakfasted in the private room of Omar 
Pasha. His horse was magnificently caparisoned, having 
a splendid scarlet saddle-cloth, embroidered in gold. 
We heard that Omar Pasha w 7 as left in command of the 
troops ; Ahmed Pasha, governor of Beyrout, and Abra 
Pasha, liquidator of claims. 

At twelve o' clock, the weather having cleared up, our 
mules were loaded and sent off. We gave ourselves no 
trouble about them, leaving all to our dragoman, who 
seemed a very intelligent man ; and as we were assured 
he was perfectly trustworthy, we saw no reason why we 
should interfere with his arrangements. Before leaving 
we sat down to lunch at the table d'hote, our horses 
being brought to the door about half-past twelve. So 
far were we from following Mr. Porter's advice in his 
* Handbook' as to the selection of the animals we w 7 ere 
to ride, that we never saw them till we were about to 
mount. Nevertheless we had no reason to complain. 
I had a very good white mare, small but fleet, and my 
husband a stout mule. We had our own English sad- 
dles, the comfort of which on the journey was beyond 
all price. Our revolvers were placed in our holsters, 
and Mikhail, who rode on before us, carried my double- 
barrelled fowling-piece. Our good friend Mr. Heald 
came out into the street, to say good-bye as we passed 
his house. After riding a little distance, I found my 
mare all that could be desired; she was spirited, in good 



FEOM BEYEOUT TO DAMASCUS. 



63 



condition, and went so well that I was quite pleased 
with her. I could not have chosen a better if I had 
looked after it myself. It turned out a lovely afternoon, 
with a bright sunshine, and not a drop of rain; so that 
we were indeed glad we had not followed the advice of 
the hotel-keeper and every one else, who had counselled 
us not to leave in such bad weather. 

We left Beyrout by the new road constructed by a 
French company, which is completed and opened as far 
as Zahleh, it being the first carriage-road in Syria ; it is 
an excellent road, and will be of immense advantage 
to the country, especially when finished through to Da- 
mascus. In about an hour we caught up our baggage- 
mules, and we then formed quite a caravan. Mikhail 
rode at the head, then followed our cook Yussuf on his 
horse, with his pots and pans ; next two muleteers, with 
four mules carrying our baggage, bedding, canteen, etc. ; 
and lastly, our two selves. The road was very good the 
whole way up the side of Mount Lebanon, first winding 
through plantations of mulberry, olive, and fig trees, 
and then of vines trailing on the ground. The sides of 
the mountains are made into terraces, and a great deal 
of fresh land is being taken into cultivation. As we 
ascended, the view behind us was very fine ; Beyrout 
being distinctly visible below, and the wide expanse of 
sea beyond, with Fuad Pasha's two steamers already far 
in the distance. 

At three o'clock we passed by the village of Arranga, 



64 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAERAN. 



which was burnt last year ; and as we went along the 
road above it, we could see into the unroofed houses, 
looking most desolate, — a sad memorial of the frightful 
disturbances which took place in Syria at the time when 
we had originally intended to come here. The inhabi- 
tants were only then beginning to repair the houses. 
On the road we saw an eagle flying, the first I ever beheld 
in the air • I should much have liked to have had a shot 
at it, had it not been too far off. At about five o' clock 
we turned off the high-road to Bhamdun, which village 
we had seen from a considerable distance, and which we 
reached in about a quarter of an hour. We were dread- 
fully cold, and glad to get under shelter. 

Bhamdun is a large village, many of the houses being 
newly built of stone, with rough bevelled edges, which 
seems to be the primitive style of masonry of the coun- 
try. We found the place full of Turkish soldiers, so 
that our dragoman was disappointed in not getting us 
a house of two rooms, as he had intended; the conse- 
quence was, that our cook had to do his work in the 
open air, but as it was a gloriously bright moonlight 
night, it did not much matter. When we first arrived, 
the people and children of the village bothered me a 
good deal, by coming to look at us, feeling my clothes, 
pulling my hair about and talking to me ; but we ma- 
naged to get rid of them after a time. 

I was much amused with the preparations for the 
night. Mikhail first put up a couple of iron bedsteads, 



FROM BEYROUT TO DAMASCUS. 



65 



side by side, made the beds, laid down a carpet on each 
side, set up a table on tressels, put on it a smart table- 
cover, brought out two camp-stools, then lighted candles 
in a pair of grand brass candlesticks ; and all this was 
done in much less than half an hour. He then left us 
to repose and write up our journals, etc. Meanwhile, 
Yussuf had set about preparing our dinner. When it 
was nearly ready, Mikhail came and laid the table, in as 
much form as if we had been in an hotel. Where he 
managed to get all the things from was to me quite 
incomprehensible; it seemed like magic ; he beat Robert 
Houdin hollow in bringing so many articles out of so 
small a space as his single canteen. While waiting for 
dinner, we stood out-of-doors admiring the bright star- 
light night j and although there was snow on the ground, 
yet we found it decidedly warmer in the open air than 
in the hut, which was more like a well than a dwelling 
place. I never felt anything to equal the damp cold 
atmosphere of the wretched room we had to sleep in, 
where we could not even have a fire, because there was 
no chimney. I had had a headache all day, and as soon 
as we had dined, we gladly went to bed. We put our 
fire-arms under our pillows, and fell asleep with the 
door open, leaving Mikhail and the rest of the people to 
come in and out of the room a discretion ; for we were 
fast asleep long before we could have locked our door, 
had we felt inclined to do so. 

Sunday, December 15 th. — Mikhail called us at day- 

F 



66 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



break, and soon brought us our chocolate and toast. 
The morning was fine, but cold and frosty, the sky being 
rather overcast. Our luggage was soon loaded, and by 
eight o' clock we were off. We walked a little way, to 
warm our feet and set our blood in circulation, and then 
mounted and followed the mules. We soon regained 
the high-road, along which we kept ascending, till at 
ten o'clock we reached a cutting at the head of Wady 
Hammana, and came to the water-parting between it 
and Wady Damur. We still kept ascending the ridge 
between the two basins, where we found the ground all 
covered with snow, and felt ourselves exceedingly cold. 
At 10.45 we reached the summit, and caught a glimpse 
of the range of Anti-Libanus, which, to our great gra- 
tification, we saw had much less snow on it than the 
mountains we were on. In another quarter of an hour 
we crossed a fine bridge of a single arch, descended 
round the head of the basin, and in a short time reached 
the col, or pass. There was a good deal of snow and ice 
on the road, but not nearly so much as on the Simplon 
a month ago, though I felt very much colder. In fact, 
I was so cold, that I was obliged to alight two or three 
times to walk. The carriage-road, as finished over the 
ridge of Lebanon, much resembles those across the Alps 
in their easier portions, there being no necessity here for 
great engineering works. There are, however, several 
well-built bridges, and, as far as completed, the work 
does credit to its undertakers. 



FROM BEYROUT TO DAMASCUS. 



67 



Just at the worst part of the passage, we fell in with, 
more than fifty mules, asses, and camels on their road 
to Beyrout, and as many more going our way, all laden 
and in a state of almost inextricable confusion. The 
road being so narrow from being blocked up with snow, 
we were afraid our baggage- mules would be forced down 
the bank. I went on ahead to clear the way for our 
party to pass, taking of course the higher side of the 
road. The animals going our way were laden with 
English manufactured goods, iron rods, and Persian 
tombac; those we met had grapes, dried apricots, and 
other articles of native produce. 

That tobacco from Persia should be carried to Da- 
mascus from the west, instead of the east, was unintelli- 
gible to us till we obtained the following explanation. 
The caravans between Baghdad and Damascus, of which 
there used to be three or four annually, have for the last 
few years been discontinued, in consequence of a very 
rich one having been attacked and plundered by the 
Beduins, by which the Damascus merchants are said to 
have lost upwards of £40,000 sterling. The direct 
communication between Baghdad and Damascus being 
thus suspended, goods for the Damascus market have to 
be brought round by the way of Mosul and Aleppo to 
Scanderoon, where they are shipped to Beyrout and 
thence brought up this way. When at Damascus we 
heard that it was shortly intended to reopen the direct 
route from Baghdad ; and from an article in the c Times ' 

F 1 



68 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



of the 21st of April, 1862, it appeared that the attempt 
has been made; but that unfortunately the caravan was 
again attacked and pillaged near Palmyra. This must 
unavoidably, and perhaps indefinitely, postpone the re- 
suscitation of the direct trade with Baghdad, from which 
the inhabitants of Damascus might have hoped to de- 
rive some compensation for the great losses they have 
of late sustained. In the present unsettled state of poli- 
tical affairs in Syria, it would, however, be useless to 
look for any certain amelioration of the material welfare 
of Damascus. The Christians, who were the principal 
merchants, appear to have abandoned the city • and un- 
til a firm, powerful, and energetic government can gua- 
rantee the safety of their persons and their property, 
they would hardly think of returning. 

We had scarcely got through the difficulty of passing 
all the laden animals we had fallen in with at the pass, 
when we met some large flocks of goats, which were 
being driven down towards the sea-coast for pasturage. 
At about half-past twelve o'clock it began snowing, just 
as we arrived at Khan Murad, the first station on the 
descent, where we stopped to lunch. Our meal consisted 
of some cold chicken, which had remained from yester- 
day's dinner, with bread and cheese; our drink being 
claret and water. About one o'clock we started again, 
wrapped up in shawls and cloaks, as it continued snow- 
ing fast during the rest of the day. We now left the 
carriage-road, which went up the side of the mountain 



FROM BEYROUT TO DAMASCUS. 



69 



to Zahleh and Baalbek; while we continued our descent 
by Mekseh, and across the swampy and muddy Bekaa, 
or valley of the river Litany, till, after crossing this 
river by a bridge, we arrived at half-past three o'clock 
at the large village of El Merj, near the eastern bank of 
the river. 

We were very cold and wet, and glad to find a more 
comfortable house than that of last night, as there was 
a good wood fire and a tolerably clean and snug little 
room all ready for us. My husband was quite knocked 
up, and as soon as the bedsteads were set up, he threw 
himself on one of them and fell fast asleep, where he 
remained till dinner-time. Meanwhile I underwent the 
same amount of inspection from the villagers as I did 
yesterday. The house in which we were belonged to 
two brothers and their wives, one of whom was young 
and would be very pretty, were she not prematurely old 
from fever and overwork. When I sat down to write 
up my diary, she kept closely watching me, and ap- 
peared anxious to learn what it was all about. It seemed 
quite to astonish her : she could not make it out at all, 
nor look at it enough ; and as it got dark, she fetched a 
light and held it close to the writing, that she might 
examine it more minutely. I seemed to have taken her 
fancy wonderfully, for she would not take her eyes off 
me, nor be persuaded to leave me an instant. She was 
very attentive, and wished to take off my wet boots 
and render me other assistance, till at length her kind 



70 



A PILGEIMAGE TO HARE AN. 



attentions became too pressing and wearisome; and as 
I could not make her understand any hint that I wished 
to be alone, I was obliged to get Mikhail to tell her in 
plain terms to leave the room, in order that we might 
enjey a little quiet while we dined. 

Monday } December 16th. — A lovely morning. Leav- 
ing El Merj at about 8 a.m., we continued our road over 
the Bekaa, and crossed the Nahr Anjar by a bridge not 
yet completed, where we regained the French carriage- 
road from Zahleh to Damascus, which here is still un- 
finished ; so that, instead of going on the roadway it- 
self, we rode along beside it, having on our left a most 
magnificent view of the snow-capped range of Lebanon, 
whilst on our right we beheld the summit of Hermon, 
likewise covered with snow. On approaching the ruins 
of the ancient city of Chalcis, we turned off to visit 
them. The tracks of wheels led us to imagine what on 
our arrival we found to be the fact, namely, that the 
remains of the city are being carried off to construct the 
bridges of the new carriage-road; the pieces of columns, 
hewn stones, and other architectural fragments, being 
used for the masonry, while the smaller fragments are 
burnt into lime. We had here a fine view of part of 
the large town of Zahleh on the one side, and on the 
other of the majestic ruins of Mejel Anjar, placed on a 
lofty mound at a distance of about half an hour's ride. 
We now returned to the side of the Damascus carriage- 
road, and passing within a mile of Mejel, which we 



FROM BEYROUT TO DAMASCUS. 



71 



should much have liked to visit, had time allowed, we 
saw a great many peasants ploughing and sowing the 
fields along the sides of the road. This new carriage- 
road cannot fail greatly to increase the value of the lands 
through which it passes, and must eventually prove of 
immense service to the whole district. 

At about ten o^elock we turned up the valley of the 
Harir, and began ascending the ridge of Anti-Libanus, 
following the course of the telegraph-line and carriage- 
road. Here we w r ere joined by two fierce-looking horse- 
men, in striped abbas, armed with guns and swords. As 
we had been told at Beyrout that this was the most 
dangerous part of the road, and that hereabouts several 
persons had lately been stopped and robbed, we were 
prepared for some little adventure, and were almost dis- 
appointed when, after a time, the horsemen left us and 
ascended the side of the mountain. We kept along the 
valley till it opened into a dreary plain, forming the 
water-parting between the basin of the Litany and that 
of the Barada. At twelve o' clock we stopped at a miser- 
able hovel, occupied by the workmen on the road and 
some bashi-buzuks, where w T e lunched, having just be- 
fore we reached our halting-place met a party of Turkish 
soldiers conveying some prisoners to Beyrout ; but w T ho 
these prisoners were, and what was their offence, we 
were not able to learn. 

We here drank some water from a spring, which runs 
eastward into the Wady el- Kern, a tributary of the Ba- 



72 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



rada ; and thus for the first time we tasted some of the 
water of Aram Naharaim ! Here the works of the new 
road came to an end; but thus far it is in such a 
state of forwardness, that little is required to make it 
practicable for carriages. From what we could ascertain, 
this road was being constructed by a French company, 
who have a grant for fifty years, with the monopoly of 
running wheeled carriages over it, and also of exacting 
a toll on all animals using it. This toll, however, is not 
to commence until the road is finished through to Da- 
mascus, which it is to be feared may not be for some 
time to come, as we were informed at Damascus that 
the company was insolvent. 

After re-mounting, we crossed a thread of a stream 
running to our left, and began descending Wady el- 
Kern, a very narrow pass between precipitous rocks, 
most wild and desolate. After proceeding a little way, 
we found ourselves accompanied by an armed horseman 
even more fierce-looking than the former two. He rode 
along by the side of Mikhail, keeping up an animated 
conversation with him, till at last they stopped, and 
waited for us to come up ; when Mikhail explained 
to us that the stranger was an Algerine, who had ac- 
companied Abd-el-Kader to Damascus, and was now a 
hashi-buzuk in the Turkish service, and that he had 
come on thus far to escort us, and was now going to 
return after paying us his respects. This, being inter- 
preted, meant that he wished for bakhshish — or, as they 



FROM BEYROUT TO DAMASCUS. 



73 



say in East Kent, " a little allowance," — which Mikhail 
giving him, he put the money into his mouth, made us 
a profound salam, and galloped off at such a furious rate 
over the rugged rocks, that it was a wonder his horse 
did not fall with him at almost every step. 

At two o' clock we came to where the road branches 
off to Dimas and Suk-Wady-Barada. The former is 
the more direct, and the telegraph-line continues along 
it, and by it the carriage-road is also intended to pass. 
We preferred, however, the latter road, which led us in 
about three-quarters of an hour to the brink of the river 
Barada, the Abana of Scripture. We stopped to drink, 
and let our horses drink, of its sparkling waters before 
crossing a bridge over the rapidly flowing stream. We 
then went along the left bank of the river, passing by a 
very beautiful waterfall and a succession of rapids, and 
next descended the ravine to the remains of the ancient 
city of Abila, with inscriptions on the rocks and some 
broken columns strewed along the bank of the river and 
on the side of the rocks, which had evidently fallen from 
above near w r here the inscriptions are. We then crossed 
a modern bridge, and in a few minutes reached Suk- 
Wady-Barada, a large village pleasantly situated amongst 
orchards. Here we took possession of a nice clean white- 
washed room, where a fire was soon lighted, and we 
made ourselves comfortable for the night, in spite of 
what we were told of a man having been murdered here 
while the English Consul was sleeping in an adjoining 



74 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



room ; on learning which, the assassin sent an apology, 
saying that had he known the Consul was there, he 
would not have disturbed his rest, but would have put 
off his work for a more fitting opportunity. 

Tuesday, December 17th. — There was rain during the 
night, but in the morning the weather cleared up, and 
gave promise of a lovely day, which, in fact, it turned 
out to be. We found both the country and the climate 
very different from those of the previous day on the 
other side of the mountains. The change much re- 
sembled that on the descent into Italy from the Alps. 
Shortly after leaving the village, we turned off the road 
to visit Ain Fijeh, crossing the Barada by a rude bridge, 
and proceeding down its left bank through orchards and 
plantations of poplars. Both the right and left banks of 
the river were studded with villages, surrounded by rich 
orchards of walnuts, olives, figs, pomegranates, mul- 
berries, peaches, apricots, and almonds, with the vines 
climbing gracefully up the trees, etc. The various tints 
of the foliage were very beautiful, although many of the 
leaves were already fallen from the trees : still enough 
were left to form a charming contrast of colours. 

We reached Ain Fijeh at 9.45 a.m. This celebrated 
spring bursts out in a powerful stream of excellent water 
from a cave under a platform of masonry, on which stand 
the remains of an ancient temple ; and at a short dis- 
tance in front is a building over the stream, supporting 
the ruins of a large arch. I scrambled down the rock — 



FROM BEYEOUT TO DAMASCUS. 



75 



no easy task, and one on which my husband would not 
venture — into the small low cave in which the source 
rises. The water felt quite warm, and would make a 
delicious bath. The spot is a most lovely one, situated 
in the midst of beautiful orchards and groves. Mikhail, 
our dragoman, was quite poetical, speaking in raptures 
of the spot, which he thinks the loveliest in the whole 
world ; and his grand ambition, he said, would be to 
build himself a house by the broken arch, where he 
might reside with his family, and act as cicerone to 
European visitors. I suspect there is no small share of 
prose mixed up with his poetry, and that he would not 
be so enraptured with the place, if he did not think his 
scheme would be a profitable speculation. 

Ain Fijeh may in one sense be regarded as the source 
of the Barada, for it furnishes to that river very much 
more water than the direct stream coming from the 
west, which it joins after running about a hundred yards. 
Dr. Edward .Robinson, who went to the junction of the 
two streams, found that coming from the fountain 
to be " still the most abundant and powerful, although 
nearly one-third of it is led off directly from the source 
by a canal for irrigation."* I am thus particular in re- 
ferring to this authority, in proof of the fact of the 
absolute junction of the two streams; because at the 
meeting of the British Association for the Advancement 
of Science, at Manchester, in October, 1862, at which 
* 1 Later Biblical Researches,' p. 476, 



76 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



my "husband and myself attended, and where he read 
some notes on our journey to Harran, it was contended 
that the Fijeh is a separate stream (the Pharpar of 
Scripture), flowing through the same valley as the Ba- 
rada, but maintaining its distinct natural course. 

Without professing to be learned in such matters, it 
appears to me a physical impossibility that the waters 
from two distinct sources should continue to run down 
one and the same natural valley, except they were kept 
separate by artificial means. I will not pretend to say 
that some of the water of the Fijeh may not be conveyed 
by artificial canals as far as the city of Damascus, though 
I am not aware of such being the case ; but I can, at all 
events, safely affirm that I myself and my husband (like 
Dr. Robinson) saw the stream of the Fijeh flow into 
and unite with that of the Barada. 

Shortly after leaving the source of the Fijeh, we came 
to the village of the same name, where w r e noticed some 
men sawing the poplar, which is the principal wood 
used in Damascus; and further on we passed by a rough 
bridge, made of a pile of stones on either side with three 
rough poles laid across, and not very near each other, 
much the same as those across the streams in the valleys 
of the Alps, and which must require a steady head as well 
as a sure foot to cross. Just before quitting the Barada, 
we saw an ancient aqueduct. At 10.45 a.m. we left the 
valley of the river, passing by some fine old mulberry- 
trees, and then proceeding through extensive plantations 



FROM BEYEOUT TO DAMASCUS. 



77 



of vines, figs, and mulberries, which extend all up the 
mountain-sides as far as man can gain a footing. 

In half an hour we sat down to lunch at a spring by 
the roadside. Beyond the spot where we thus stopped, the 
land all up the mountains was being ploughed for corn 
as far as Dummar, of which village we had a fine view 
from the heights. Here we once more saw the Barada 
with ks thickly wooded banks, to which, passing through 
the village, we now descended, and then ascending again 
the opposite mountain, we at length caught a glimpse 
of a part of the plain of Damascus, and in a quarter of 
an hour more came to a narrow passage cut through 
the summit of the ridge ; emerging from which we were 
dazzled and enraptured by the sudden view of the city, 
and the whole extent of the plain stretching far and 
wide, which, as if by magic, disclosed itself to our sight. 
The graceful minarets and domes, with the white ter- 
races of the houses glittering in the sun, and embowered 
in groves and orchards, whose foliage was of every 
variety of colour, formed altogether a coup d'osil pro- 
bably not to be surpassed in the whole world, and cer- 
tainly far beyond my feeble powers of description. 

But the unrivalled beauties of Damascus have been 
too often extolled by others to require further eulogy 
from me. Unfortunately the charm was dispelled when 
we descended to the plain and approached the city, where 
we soon began to pass along narrow dirty lanes between 
mud walls, serving to enclose the gardens surround- 



78 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARIUN. 



ing the city; on entering which, we passed by some 
ancient edifices, apparently mosques, and then through 
covered and crowded bazars, till at length, about half- 
past three in the afternoon, we arrived at the Hotel de 
Palmyre, in the cc Street called Straight," where we 
alighted. After having rested a little and refreshed 
ourselves, we at once walked to the house of the English 
Consul, Mr. Rogers. He was not at home, so my hus- 
band left his card with a couple of letters of introduc- 
tion, and we then sauntered through the bazars, which 
are very similar to those of Cairo, except that they are, 
if possible, more narrow, and decidedly darker from 
being more covered in ; after which we returned home 
to dine at the hotel, which is kept by a Greek, named 
Demetri, who formerly had that at Beyrout, whilst 
Andrea, who is now there, kept this one at Damascus. 

Tuesday, December 18th. — The first thing in the 
morning, we sent Mikhail to the Consul, to ask whether 
it would be convenient for him to receive my husband at 
ten o' clock. Instead of returning an answer, Mr. Rogers 
obligingly accompanied our messenger back to the hotel, 
and with him we enjoyed a long and interesting con- 
versation respecting our intended journey. Mr. Rogers 
had been only a few months in Damascus, having recently 
been appointed consul there, so that he hesitated to ex- 
press himself confidently on the subject; but he kindly 
suggested that Dr. Wetzstein, the Prussian Consul, who 
had been fourteen years resident in Damascus, would 



FROM BEYEOUT TO DAMASCUS. 



79 



be able to give us every advice and assistance. Al- 
though personally unacquainted with Dr. Wetzstein, my 
husband knew him quite well by reputation, and he was 
delighted to hear that he was still here, having un- 
derstood, before we left England, that he had resigned 
his Consulship on being appointed Professor of Arabic in 
the University of Halle. It was only on the day of our 
arrival that Dr. Wetzstein had left Damascus for Sekka, 
a village belonging to him, situate about five miles from 
Harran. Mr. Rogers also informed us, that Mr. Wad- 
dington, an Englishman, was on the point of starting 
for Sekka, on his way to the unexplored country of 
Safa, lying to the east of Hauran ; and he suggested 
that my husband should, if possible, see that gentleman 
before he left, as he intended going to Jerash after- 
wards, and had been making inquiries as to the state 
of the country ; and Mr. Rogers thought that we might 
obtain valuable information from him, or perhaps ar- 
range to travel part of the way together. 

My husband accordingly accompanied Mr. Rogers to 
the house of the French Consul, with whom Mr. Wad- 
dington was residing, he being, on account of family 
connections, a naturalized Frenchman. They fortunately 
caught him just as he was going to leave. There was no 
opportunity for saying much ; but, from what Mr. Wad- 
dington had heard, the road to Jerash was safe, except 
towards the latter part, where there was a feud among 
some of the smaller tribes. Beyond Jerash, to the south, 



80 



A PILGETMAGE TO HAEEAN. 



lie said all was quite safe ; but this did not much con- 
cern us, our intended road lying in a more westerly 
direction. He was under the impression that a night 
march at the doubtful part of our journey would be the 
best means of freeing us from molestation ; but it would 
not be easy to fix on any certain plan till we reached 
the spot, where we should have to be guided by circum- 
stances. He added that his own journey to the Safa 
would not occupy many days, as he wished to be back 
in Damascus for the jour de Van; after which he pur- 
posed leaving for Jerash as soon as practicable. As, 
however, our object was not to delay our journey till 
after the new year, but to get on as quickly as possible, 
it seemed hardly likely that we should be able to arrange 
for our travelling together. Mr. Waddington had been 
travelling all over Hauran, and had also been to Pal- 
myra, where he had copied two hundred inscriptions, in 
three of which he had found the name Tadmor, so that 
he considered all doubts to be at an end as to the iden- 
tity of the two places. 

After taking leave of Mr. Waddington, the two gen- 
tlemen returned to our hotel, where we had another 
long conversation about our intended journey. Of 
course, the first and most important point was to ar- 
range about our dragoman. Mikhail being perfectly 
well known to Mr. Rogers, he thought he could not do 
better than come to terms with him at once. Accord- 
ingly, as soon as Mr. Rogers had left, we called Mikhail 



FROM BEYEOUT TO DAMASCUS. 



81 



in, and told him of our proposed line of journey, and of 
our willingness to engage him to accompany us, if we 
could agree as to terms. Being a thorough man of busi- 
ness and accustomed to deal with Europeans, he did 
not stand on much ceremony in letting us know his de- 
mands. These were three pounds a day as far as Jeru- 
salem, with payment for one mule and a half extra, as 
he said our baggage would exceed the usual quantity 
allowed to travellers, — and further, the cost of food for 
any Beduin escort we might require. From Jerusalem 
to Hebron and Cairo he would require four pounds a 
day. This charge appeared to us so exorbitant, that we 
decided on our all going at once to the Consul's, and 
seeing what he could do in the matter. 

On reaching the Consulate we had another long dis- 
cussion with Mikhail, whom Mr. Rogers could not in- 
duce to abate his demands, but w r ho, on the contrary, 
seemed inclined to raise them the longer we held out. 
The extra haghal iva nusf (mule and a half) for the bag- 
gage were continually brought forward, and all sorts of 
additions were thought of; till at length, acting under 
Mr. Rogers's advice, we decided on agreeing to pay him 
four pounds a day for the entire journey, — he taking 
upon himself every charge whatsoever, the " mule and 
a half" and food for the Beduins included; with the 
single exception of the bakhshish we might have to pay 
to our escort, which we were to take on ourselves. This 
being settled, the Consul at once drew up an agreement, 

G 



82 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



which we all signed, and which he then gave to his 
chancellier to register. It was further arranged that 
Mikhail should start early the next morning for Bey- 
rout, to fetch his tents and engage mules to carry them 
and the rest of the baggage, he undertaking to be back 
in a week. 

We had arranged that while Awaiting Mikhail's re- 
turn, we should go to Harran, and our intention was 
to have started the next morning; but the bargaining 
with him took up so much time that, when it was all 
over, the day was too far advanced for us to begin 
making preparations for the morrow. We were, there- 
fore, obliged to put off our trip till the following day, 
Friday. It is curious that, as if it were by some fatality, 
we mostly commence undertakings of importance on 
that day of the week, which so many people look upon 
as unlucky. Mr. Rogers advised us, as a matter of pru- 
dence, not to pass the night so far away east of Damas- 
cus as Harran, on account of the Beduins in the neigh- 
bourhood; so we decided on going to Sekka for the 
night, and proceeding to Harran the next morning. 
The Consul promised to let us have one of his kaw asses 
to accompany us, and Mikhail agreed to lend us his 
cook Yussuf, with his canteen, beds, etc., we paying him 
for his time. As we had need also of an interpreter, 
we at first thought of taking with us the dragoman of 
the hotel, old Abu Ibrahim ; but as he is a Jew, and 
would not travel more than a Sabbath-day's journey on 



FROM BEYROUT TO DAMASCUS. 



83 



Saturday, — and, indeed, was not disposed to work at all 
on that day, — we were obliged to give him up ; though 
not without regret, as we should have liked much to 
visit Harran in the company of Ibrahim the Hebrew. 

Thursday , December 19th. — During the night we had 
very heavy rain, which continued during the greater 
part of the day. It was well, therefore, that we had not 
arranged to go to Harran this morning. The weather 
did not however stop Mikhail, who was with us by 
seven o' clock for a letter to Mr. Heald, requesting him 
to pay him over the money for our journey thus far, 
which we had deposited with that gentleman; after re- 
ceiving which he left immediately. He said that if he 
found the road over the mountain impassable, he should 
come round by Banias and Hasbeiya. This would make 
him one day longer on the road ; but we might rely on 
his losing no time for his own sake, as, under the con- 
tract, his pay" would not commence till we began our 
journey. Mikhail took away with him my nice little 
horse, as he had hired it for the journey to Damascus 
only ; but he promised that if he could manage to buy 
it, he would bring it back with him for my use on our 
further journey. 

Notwithstanding the rain, which promised badly for 
our excursion to Harran, we employed ourselves in 
making preparations for it. As we could not have Abu 
Ibrahim, we looked out for some other interpreter, and 
in the course of the morning a man was brought to us, 

G 2 



84 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



who could talk a very little French, aud who had the 
conscience to demand three hundred piastres (about 
three pounds sterling) for the three or perhaps only two 
days we purposed being absent. In the afternoon, Do- 
me tri brought us a muleteer to carry our baggage, who 
professed to know all the villages of the Merj perfectly 
well, and who understood English pretty nearly as well 
as the other man knew French,— which, by the bye, was 
little better than I knew Arabic; and he agreed to 
supply us with horses and mules at five francs each a 
day, and to give us his valuable services as guide and 
interpreter into the bargain. With this offer we closed, 
though the terms were quite high enough. Yussuf oc- 
cupied himself during the day in making provision for 
our not being starved while absent from Damascus, and 
we ourselves got everything ready so as to start the first 
thing in the morning. 

Before narrating the particulars of our visit to Harran, 
it will be proper to give, in the next chapter, a sketch 
of the history of the patriarchs Abraham and Jacob in 
connection with that place. 



85 



CHAPTER V. 

HISTOEY OF THE PATRIARCHS ABRAHAM AND JACOB 
IN CONNECTION WITH HARRAN. 

Nearly four thousand years have elapsed, according to 
the received chronology, since an event occurred which, 
in itself and in its consequences, has exercised the 
greatest influence over the destinies of mankind. This 
is the emigration of the patriarch Abraham and his 
family from Ur of the Chaldees into the land of Ca- 
naan. From the concise narrative of this memorable 
journey contained in the eleventh and twelfth chapters 
of the Book of Genesis, we learn that it was not per- 
formed uninterruptedly from beginning to end. Before 
reaching the frontiers of Canaan, a pause was made at 
Harran (Haran or Charran), in the country of Aram or 
Syria, where Terah, Abraham's father, remained till his 
death, and where his descendants, with the exception 
of Abraham and Lot, continued to reside permanently. 

Ur of the Chaldees, — or Ur Casdim, as it is in the 
Hebrew text, — the native country of the patriarchs, is 



86 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARE AN". 



generally understood to have been situate within Me- 
sopotamia, the extensive region lying between the two 
rivers Euphrates and Tigris. 

The position of Harran in Padan Aram, the adopted 
country of Terah and his family, has not as yet been 
satisfactorily determined. The weight of authority, 
ancient and modern, has hitherto been in favour of the 
celebrated town of that name situate within Mesopo- 
tamia; though, as is observed in the Introduction to 
the present work, the objections to this identification 
are so numerous and so cogent, that it is hardly pos- 
sible it would ever have been adopted, had the exist- 
ence of the true Harran near Damascus been known or 
even suspected. 

The latter appears to have been lost sight of in the 
time of the Greek or Roman conquerors of Syria, who 
founded there a city, the name of which, now lost, 
superseded for awhile, and probably during ages, the 
native appellation of Harran. * Nevertheless the resi- 
dence of the patriarch Abraham in the immediate vici- 
nity of Damascus appears to have been continually held 
there in remembrance. For, we have the following 
specific statement of Nicolaus of Damascus, a writer 
of the time of Augustus Csesar, who must be assumed 
to have derived his information from local sources, in- 
dependently of the Hebrew records: — Abram reigned 
in Damascus, being a foreigner, who came with an army 
out of the land above Babylon, called the land of the 



THE PATRIARCHS AT HARRAN. 



87 



Chaldaeans. But after [not] a long time he got him 
up, and removed from that country also with his people, 
and went into the land then called the land of Canaan. 
. . , The name of Abram is even still famous in the 
country of Damascus, and there is shown there a village 
named, after him, the Habitation of Abram."" 56, 

According to the existing local tradition, this village 
is Berzeh, which is situated at the foot of the moun- 
tains, about three miles to the north of Damascus; 
and Abraham is said not only to have lived but to 
have died there. For, though on the indisputable au- 
thority of Holy Writ, the patriarch is known to have 
been buried, with his wife Sarah, at Hebron,, where their 
graves were visited by the Prince of Wales shortly after 
our own return from Syria ; Abraham's tomb is never- 
theless shown at Berzeh, where yearly, in the beginning 
of March, it is visited by numerous pilgrims. 

This is a striking instance of the worthlessness of 
mere local traditions. Still, as every such tradition must 
necessarily have originated in some absolute fact, how- 
ever much, in the course of ages, that fact may have 
become perverted; it is not at all improbable that the 
inhabitants of Damascus, at some period or other, re- 
moved Abraham's residence from the west to the north 
side of the city, in order that they might perform their 
pilgrimages without molestation from the Arab tribes 
who infest the plain country about Harran; just in the 
* Joseph. Antiq. I. ii. 2; cited in Orig. Bibl. p. 126. 



88 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAS RAN. 



same way that the Latin monks of Damascus have, 
" for the convenience of travellers/' recently placed the 
scene of St. Paul's conversion on the east side of the 
city, notwithstanding that the great high-road from Je- 
rusalem, on which the miracle occurred, approaches Da- 
mascus from the south-west. 

The road by which the patriarch Abraham and his 
family passed out of Mesopotamia on their way to Ca- 
naan, is almost universally admitted to have been by 
the ford of the Euphrates near Birejek, at the ancient 
Zeugma, on the high caravan-road between Diarbekir 
and Aleppo ; though, as is shown in page 11 of the In- 
troduction to the present work, the Rev. J. L. Porter 
supposes Abraham to have traversed the Great Syrian 
Desert by the way of Palmyra. 

Passing through Aleppo, where the tradition of Abra- 
ham's presence still lingers in a distorted form, the road 
of the emigrants would have continued southwards by 
Hamath (Epiphania) and Horns (Emessa), skirting the 
eastern flank of Anti-Libanus, to Harran ; from which 
place, after Laban's decease, Abraham, accompanied by 
his nephew Lot, continued his journey into the land of 
Canaan. 

In the twelfth book of 6 Paradise Lost ' the exodus 
of the patriarch is thus beautifully — and how truly ! — 
described : — 

" Him on this side Euphrates yet residing 
Grod the Most High vouchsafes 



THE PATEIAECHS AT HARRAN. 



89 



To call by vision, from his father's house, 

His kindred, and false gods, into a land 

Which he will show him ; and from him will raise 

A mighty nation, and upon him shower 

His benediction so, that in his seed 

All nations shall be blest : he straight obeys ; 

Not knowing to what land, yet firm believes : 

I see him, but thou canst not, with what faith 

He leaves his gods, his friends, and native soil, 

Ur of Chaldeea, passing now the ford 

To Haran ; after him a cumbrous train 

Of herds and flocks, and numerous servitude ; 

Not wandering poor, but trusting all his wealth 

With God, who called him, in a land unknown." 

Yer. 114-134. 

When Abraham was called to complete his journey 
from Harran into the land of Canaan, he may be as- 
sumed to have proceeded through Damascus, and thence 
across the upper course of the river Pharpar, and along 
the high-road by Kuneitireh, crossing the Jordan at the 
bridge which bears the trivial and unmeaning name of 
the Bridge of Jacob's Daughters, just below Lake II u- 
leh, or the Waters of Merom • so that, having entered 
the Promised Land near its northern extremity, the pa- 
triarch would have passed through and surveyed its 
whole extent while "going on still toward the south/' 

It is not within the scope of the present work to 
notice any of the events of the patriarch's life while 
he was a sojourner in the land, till the time came when, 
his wife Sarah being dead and himself well stricken in 
age, Abraham called " his eldest servant of his house, 



90 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAEEAN. 



that ruled over all he had/' and sent him to Harran 
to seek a wife for his son Isaac. This chief servant is 
generally supposed to be the individual called by Abra- 
ham at an earlier period " the steward of my house, 
this Eliezer of Damascus /' and there seems much pro- 
priety in the idea that such a person should have been 
chosen for the mission, as knowing the place to which 
he was being sent and the road thither. 

In Dr. Smith's e Dictionary of the Bible ' it is said 
respecting Eliezer : — u There is a contradiction in the 
authorized version ; for it does not appear how, if he 
was 'of Damascus/ he could be 'born in Abraham's 
house / " and various learned authorities are cited with 
a view to the elucidation of the seeming inconsistency. 
But the alleged contradiction vanishes, the moment it 
is seen that Abraham's true place of residence in Aram 
was within the plain of Damascus, and in the imme- 
diate vicinity of that city. 

The Scriptural narrative then proceeds : — cc And the 
servant took ten camels of the camels of his master, and 
departed ; . . . and he arose, and went to Aram-Na- 
haraim [wrongly translated Mesopotamia] , unto the city 
of Nahor." 

The precise road taken by Eliezer is not mentioned ; 
but it is reasonable to conclude that he went from He- 
bron by Bethel, Shechem, and the Bridge of Jacob's 
Daughters, and so on to Damascus, following the direct 
and usual high-road, by which he had entered Canaan 



THE PATRIARCHS AT HARRAN. 



91 



with his master Abraham. From Damascus Eliezer 
would have proceeded to Harran, where, on his arrival, 
" he made his camels to kneel down without the city by 
a well of water, at the time of evening, even the time 
that women go out to draw water and as Harran lies 
almost due east of Damascus, the traveller would have 
approached the former place from the west : so that the 
position of the well by which he thus stopped must have 
been just outside of the town, on its western side to- 
wards Damascus. It is important to bear in mind this 
fact, as it will be commented on in the sequel. 

In the selection of a wife for his master's son, Eliezer 
appears to have trusted to Divine Providence rather 
than to his own judgement. In the prayer which he 
offered up on his arrival at Harran, he said: — "Behold, 
I stand here by the well of water ; and the daughters 
of the men of the city come out to draw water : and 
let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall 
say, c Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may 
drink and she shall say, c Drink, and I will give thy 
camels drink also/ let the same be she that thou hast 
appointed for thy servant Isaac ; and thereby shall I 
know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master." 

As it was ordered, the damsel who first approached 
the suppliant with her pitcher on her shoulder was Re- 
bekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the 
wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother ; and it will be suffi- 
cient to add, without pursuing the narrative further, 



92 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARK AN. 



that, Eliezer's mission having proved successful, he re- 
turned to his master Abraham, accompanied by Rebe- 
kah, to be the wife of her cousin Isaac. 

After this event nothing is recorded of any further 
communication between Abraham's family in Canaan 
and his father's house in Padan Aram, until Jacob, the 
younger son of Isaac and Rebekah, fled to Harran for 
the purpose of avoiding the anger of his brother Esau, 
and at the same time with the object of taking a wife 
of the daughters of Laban, his mother's brother. 

Refraining for the present from any comment on the 
details of the fugitive's journey, it will be sufficient to 
remark that, for reasons even more cogent than those 
which led Eliezer to Damascus, we may conclude that 
Jacob's steps were likewise directed to that city. A 
traveller into a strange country always goes in the first 
instance to some well-known place of importance, where 
he may expect to obtain information respecting the spot 
he is about to visit, and be directed to it. Arrived at 
Damascus, Jacob would easily have ascertained that 
Harran lay at a short distance east of that city, and 
having passed the night at Damascus, he would in the 
early morning have started for Laban's residence; and, 
as its distance from that city is only fourteen geogra- 
phical miles, we can understand how he would, as the 
narrative relates, while "it was yet high day," have 
approached so near to Harran, as to render it ad- 
visable to make inquiry as to the precise position of 



THE PATRIARCHS AT HAKE AN. 



93 



his place of destination. The Scriptural narrative re- 
lates, in fact, that " he looked, and behold, a well in the 
field, and lo, there were three flocks of sheep lying by 
it ; for out of that well they watered the flocks : and 
a great stone was upon the well's mouth and to the 
shepherds tending these flocks the patriarch addressed 
himself for information. 

This well, it must be observed, was not at all the pre- 
vious one at which Abraham's servant Eliezer had met 
Rebekah. That well lay " without the city/' where " the 
daughters of the men of the city came out to draw water/' 
— that is to say at the very entrance of the city itself. 
The well approached by Jacob was " in the field," that is 
to say, at some distance from the town ; though, as it lay 
in the way from Damascus, it must, like the other, have 
been situated somewhere on the western side of Harran. 

Different as were the two wells, not less different 
was the manner in which the two travellers approached 
them respectively. Eliezer of Damascus, as a native of 
the country and a member of Abraham's household 
while resident at Harran, was of course familiar with 
the place and the customs of its inhabitants. He there- 
fore went straight to the well at the entrance of Har- 
ran, where he knew the maidens of the city would soon 
come out to draw water ; and there, in a spirit of entire 
reliance on the will of the Almighty, he waited for a 
sign to show him whether the Lord would prosper the 
way which he had gone. 



94 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRA¥. 



Jacob, on the contrary, was a stranger in the coun- 
try and unacquainted with its customs, as is plainly 
evinced by the conversation between him and the keepers 
of the three flocks of sheep, which he found lying by the 
well in the field : — "And Jacob said unto them, My 
brethren, whence be ye? And they said, Of Harran 
are we. And he said unto them, Know ye Laban, the 
son of Nahor? And they said, We know him. And 
he said unto them, Is he well ? And they said, He is 
well : and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the 
sheep." 

At the time they were thus conversing, Rachel was 
evidently at some little distance from them; and Jacob, 
with the astuteness which was his attribute, would seem 
to have desired to send the shepherds away, in order 
that he might meet her alone. With the history of fyis 
mother Rebekah in his remembrance, and with the same 
feeling of reliance on the Divine will to direct his choice 
which had influenced Eliezer, he had doubtless already 
in his mind accepted his cousin Rachel for his future 
wife, as being the first female of his mother's family 
whom he had seen on his arrival. With such feelings, 
being desirous of the shepherds' absence, but at the 
same time not being acquainted with the usages of his 
mother's country, he said, " Lo, it is yet high day, nei- 
ther is it time that the cattle should be gathered to- 
gether : water ye the sheep, and go and feed them." 
But "they said, we cannot, until all the flocks be ga- 



THE PATRIARCHS AT HARRAN. 



95 



tlierecl together, and till they roll the stone from the 
well's mouth ; then we water the sheep." 

What followed will be best narrated in the simple 
words of Scripture: — "And while he yet spake with 
them, Rachel came, with her father's sheep ; for she kept 
them. And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel 
the daughter of Laban his mother's brother, and the 
sheep of Laban his mother's brother, that Jacob went 
near, and rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and 
watered the flock of Laban his mother's brother. And 
Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept. 
And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's brother, 
and that he was Rebekah's son ; and she ran and told 
her father." 

Here, too, is a marked difference between the two 
meetings. Eliezer, an aged man travelling as a person 
of substance with his attendants, accosted his country- 
woman Rebekah with respect and deference. The poor 
and solitary fugitive Jacob, a young man and a stranger, 
kissed Rachel even before he told her who he was. Had 
Rachel, while tending her father's flocks, been a nubile 
maiden, as her aunt Rebekah was at the time of Eliezer's 
visit, a perfect stranger like Jacob would surely not have 
dared to kiss her, least of all in the presence of her 
neighbours the men of Harran, who would have resented 
such familiarity. But there was no impropriety on his 
part in this conduct towards a girl of tender years, a 
mere child, after having performed for her the friendly 



96 



A PILGEIMAGE TO HAKE AN. 



act of rolling the large stone from the well's mouth and 
watering her sheep, especially as in so doing he, under 
the influence of deep emotion, "lifted up his voice and 
wept." 

On his revealing himself also to the little girl as her 
nearest relative, her aunt Rebekah's son, he called him- 
self " her father's brother showing that, as regarded 
their ages, he stood to her in the relation of an uncle 
rather than of a cousin. And how completely was her 
behaviour that of a child! — "she ran and told her fa- 
ther " The mature maiden Rebekah as naturally " ran 
and told her mother's house " of her meeting with Eliezer, 
and what had taken place between them. 

The reason is now manifest why Jacob waited seven 
years before marrying Rachel. Commentators have 
conjectured that, being poor, he had first to serve Laban 
during that period as a consideration for his daughter. 
But the words of the text do not rightly admit of any 
such interpretation. Laban, on their first meeting, re- 
ceived his sister's son in the most affectionate manner, 
saying to him, " Surely thou art my bone and my flesh." 
After Jacob had abode with him the space of a month 
only, taking his share in the duties of the household as 
a member of Laban's family, the latter said to him, 
" Because thou art my brother, shouldst thou therefore 
serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?" 
On which, Jacob, disclaiming all payment for his ser- 
vices, replied, " I will serve thee seven years for Rachel 



THE PATRIARCHS AT HARRAN. 



97 



thy younger daughter/' that is to say, he would abide 
with Laban and serve him as a member of his family, 
until his young cousin, whom from the very outset he 
had loved, should be old enough to become his wife. 

From the whole tenor of the Scriptural narrative it 
indeed is to be inferred, that, at the time of Jacob's 
arrival in Padan Aram, not only Rachel, but her elder 
sister Leah likewise, was a child much too young to be 
married ; otherwise there is no reason why Laban should 
not at once have offered her to her cousin, instead of 
waiting as he did for seven long years, a period during 
which, in those climates, a nubile female, if ever she is 
to be a wife at all, is not likely to remain unmarried. 
And if, according to the custom of the country, it had 
been requisite for Jacob to serve Laban for her, he might 
have done so after the marriage, as he did in fact for 
Rachel, when Leah had been forced on him without his 
knowledge : — " We will give you this [Rachel] also for 
the service which thou shalt [afterwards] serve with me 
yet seven other years/' 

It is unnecessary to pursue the subject further here, 
as the various incidents of Jacob's evasion and flight will 
be more suitably discussed in the course of the narrative 
of our own journey. I will therefore now proceed to 
describe our visit to Harran, for the purpose of verifying 
its identification as the residence of the patriarchs. 



H 



98 



CHAPTER VI. 

EXCURSION TO HAKRAN. 

Friday, December 20th. — It rained so hard last night 
that our journey to-day appeared almost hopeless ; but 
on getting up this morning, we found the sun shining 
bright and warm, and the day turned out the finest we 
had yet had in Syria. Finding this to be the case, we 
at once sent to the Consul, to ask him for the kawdss he 
had promised to let us have to accompany us. The per- 
son in question soon came, being a fine and rather fierce- 
looking man named Ahmed- em - M ansur, who has been 
attached to the British Consulate for thirty years. He 
gave himself all the airs of a person in authority, at once 
assuming the entire management of everything, and 
ordering every one about in the most absolute manner 
on the least hint from either of ourselves, to whom 
he was submissively attentive. He soon succeeded in 
ingratiating himself with us both, but in the result 
we found him to be very different from what he thus 
appeared to be. 

The muleteer we had engaged was, as usual, a long 



EXCURSION TO HARRAN. 



99 



time in bringing his mules and horses, and in loading 
and preparing for the journey ; so that it was ten o'clock 
before we started. Though we were only to be absent 
for a couple of days, our arrangements were almost as 
extensive as if the journey were to be one of a fortnight 
or a month. We made quite a party. My husband 
and I, with the muleteer and Yussuf the cook, were on 
horseback : we had two mules to carry our bedding, 
canteen, photographic apparatus, and provisions ; whilst 
Ahmed, with a formidable sabre at his side, and two 
large pistols stuck in his waistband, was mounted on a 
fine mare, accompanied by a foal nearly as large as her- 
self, which kept gambolling about during the entire jour- 
ney, making the other horses almost as frisky as itself. 

We commenced our journey under very unfavourable 
auspices. We had not got outside the walls of the city, 
when I found my horse quite intolerable. He did no- 
thing but stand still and kick, and even a man leading 
him and another behind with a stick could not persuade 
him to advance. How I missed the nice little mare on 
which I had ridden to Damascus ! On the present oc- 
casion I might indeed have profited by the advice given 
in the ' Handbook/ to examine my horse before en- 
gaging him. The remedy was, however, a very simple and 
efficacious one. I had only to change horses with Nasib 
the muleteer, who had not improvidently taken the best 
for himself. The next accident was that Yussuf s horse 
reared, and pitched the poor unfortunate man, from 



100 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN, 



amidst the pots and pans with which he was, as usual,, 
surrounded, into the middle of a pool of mud ; not only 
hurting him a good deal, but (what was of far more con- 
sequence to him) spoiling the new clothes with which 
he had just supplied himself at Damascus. All this 
caused much confusion and delay ; but at length we were 
fairly off on our way to Sekka. 

Our road lay in a south-easterly direction through 
the far-famed plain of Damascus, the Ghutha of the 
Arabian geographers, bounded on either side by the 
rivers Bar ad a (the " cold") and Awaj (the "crooked"), 
- — the " Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus," of the 
Second Book of Kings. Abulfeda says that this plain 
is one of the four paradises, which are the most excellent 
of the beautiful places of the earth. They are the Ghutha 
of Damascus, the She'ab of Bauwan, the river of Ubulleh,, 
and Soghd of Samarkand; the Ghutha of Damascus 
excelling the other three. My husband considers the 
Ghutha to be "the land of Uz" of the Book of Job.* 
The name is now restricted to the western portion of the 
plain nearest the city, the easternmost portion extending 
to the lakes being called the Merj. The distinction 
appears to be that the Ghutha is the cultivated part of 
the plain, whilst the Merj (of which term the literal 
meaning is "the meadow") is principally waste and 
pasture land, though here and there comprising culti- 
vated spots. 

* See { Introduction,' page 19, 



EXCURSION TO HARRAN. 



101 



We found the Ghutha, where it was traversed by us, 
to be most highly cultivated. At first were orchards of 
olives, vines, apricots, pomegranates, almonds, figs, wal- 
nuts, and other fruits, with plantations of poplars and 
willows ; after which came broad fields of wheat and 
Indian corn; and then, entering the Merj, we passed 
over extensive tracts of level plain, covered with grass, 
affording excellent pasturage for numerous flocks and 
herds ; and interspersed with patches of cultivated ground 
adjoining the still not unfrequent villages. Our road 
over the plain was generally good ; but in and near the 
villages we had to flounder through and along rivers of 
mud. Though the weather w 7 as perfectly fine, the sky 
was to a considerable extent filled with clouds, so as to 
give the country an English rather than a Syrian ap- 
pearance ; and as we passed by several fine flocks of sheep 
grazing in the plain, we could almost fancy we were 
taking our usual ride over Barham Downs. But on 
looking round, the view of the snowy range of Lebanon 
stretching along behind us dispelled the illusion, and 
told us we were far away from home ; whilst, further on, 
some vineyards and then camels gave us unmistakably 
to understand where w T e were. 

After passing through the villages of Jermana and 
Hosh-ed-Duwar, the former of which is inhabited by 
Druzes, we arrived at Sekka about one o'clock. The 
village from a little distance reminded us very much of 
a sugar-plantation in Mauritius. On either side, the 



3 02 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



fields of Indian corn, of which the cobs had been ga- 
thered, leaving the stalks standing, might well be taken 
for fields of sugar-cane ; whilst the dried husks strewn 
at the entrance, on which a number of cows and horses 
were feeding, were the very counterpart of the bagasse, 
or cane-trash of the sugar- mill. Dr. Wetzstein had 
heard from Mr. Waddington of our intended visit, and 
as soon as we arrived, he came out to receive us, giving 
us a most hearty welcome. He had only come to Sekka 
for a day or two, to settle accounts with his villagers 
before leaving for Germany ; and he was living in the 
house of the sheikh of the village, his own residence 
being closed, and his furniture packed up preparatory to 
his departure. 

Our friend was on the point of sitting down to dinner 
with the principal inhabitants of Sekka and his adjoining 
village Ghassule, and he politely invited us to join them. 
Without requiring any pressing, we entered a dark room 
of one of the mud houses, at the door of which was a 
heap of muddy boots and shoes of all colours, being 
those of the numerous guests, who were seated round 
the room in silence, but who rose up on our entrance, 
and saluted us. The table was already spread, consist- 
ing of a circular straw mat laid on the floor, on which 
were placed a number of round metal dishes containing 
dibs (that is to say, grape-syrup or jelly, which is the 
national dish), curds^ fried eggs, sweet pudding (made of 
flour, milk and dibs), and I know not what besides; at 



EXCUESION TO HARRAN. 



103 



intervals there were also placed piles of a sort of sweet 
pancake, which served the chief guests as bread, whilst 
plain wheaten pancakes and rolls made of Indian corn 
sufficed for those of lower degree. We were given the 
seat of honour at the upper end of the room, in the front 
of which the table was laid, cushions being put for us to 
sit on. Dr. Wetzstein, who I concluded had relinquished 
to us the place of honour, sat on my right, and my hus- 
band on my left, the sheikh sitting on his left-hand. 

As knives and forks are not customary in this part of 
the world, we ate with our fingers like the rest, dipping 
our pancake into the various dishes, or occasionally using 
a long wooden spoon, of which there were two for the 
whole party. "When the first set of persons sitting round 
the table had eaten sufficient, they retired and others took 
their places, until all who were entitled to that distinc- 
tion had dined, when the table was removed to the lower 
end of the room, where the rest of the persons present 
soon cleared it of its contents. As soon as each of us 
had finished eating, water was brought in a wooden 
bowl, and poured over our hands, which we wiped with 
a towel held by the attendant. Our drink during the 
meal was water, handed to us in a small wooden bowl. 

After dinner the sheikh sat down in a corner of the 
room by the fire, and prepared coffee for his guests, 
roasting, pounding, and boiling it with his own hands. 
Dr. Wetzstein gave us to understand that if we wished 
it to be thought that we approved of the coffee, we must 



104 



A PILGEIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



sip it very slowly, just the contrary of what we might be 
expected to do in Europe. As there were only two cups, 
the consequence of our following Dr. Wetzstein's advice 
was, that he himself had to wait till I had done with 
mine; when the sheikh, taking it from me, drained it 
himself, — this being the height of politeness,— rinsed it 
with a little coffee, and then filling it again, presented 
it to Dr. Wetzstein. The latter told us that when there 
is a great number of persons and only one coffee-cup 
(as is mostly the case), the ceremony of coffee -drinking 
often lasts several hours. Pipes were offered to us ; but 
as we do not smoke, we merely put them to our lips out 
of politeness, and passed them on. 

As it was now getting late, we found it necessary to 
leave, and continue our journey to Harran. To our 
surprise Dr. Wetzstein, with Oriental rather than Eu- 
ropean politeness, expressed his intention to accompany 
us, instead of returning straight to Damascus, as he had 
arranged to do that evening. As in duty bound, the 
sheikhs of his two villages in their turn accompanied 
him. He had also his Jcawdss, who of course fraternized 
with Ahmed, the two taking everything into their hands. 
"When we were all mounted, we made quite an imposing 
cavalcade, the sheikhs not failing to have likewise their 
own attendants. 

Shortly after leaving Sekka, we saw at a short dis- 
tance from us an encampment of sedentary Beduins; 
and as I wished to inspect them more closely, Sheikh 



EXCURSION TO HARRAN. 



105 



Mahmud of Ghassule offered to escort me, proposing 
that we should have a race together. To this T had 
no objection, and we were soon off at full speed. I 
' was the winner without much difficulty ; but on nearing 
the encampment was obliged to pull up short, for fear of 
the dogs, which rushed upon me from the tents. Each 
tent has one or two of these protectors, which are very 
savage and fierce. Near the encampment was a large 
flock of sheep, with their young lambs only a few days 
old, they having been dropped somewhat earlier this 
season than usual ; and among them we saw many black, 
" ring-straked, speckled, and grisled" lambs, sucking 
ewes that were perfectly white, which forcibly reminded 
us of the incidents narrated in the 30th and 3 1st chap- 
ters of Genesis. 

These sedentary Arabs are not the Beduins of the De- 
sert, but a sort of mongrel race, who for wages serve the 
villagers as shepherds. To see the true Beduins w r e came 
unluckily a few days too late. Mohammed ibn Duhhi, 
ibn Zmer, the chief of the Wuld c Ali division of the great 
tribe of the ' Anezeh, and now the most powerful chief 
of that tribe, had held a grand review in the Merj, 
before withdrawing for the winter into the Great Syrian 
Desert. At the review there were assembled two thou- 
sand horsemen, five thousand men on camels, and seven 
or eight thousand foot-men. We really lost a magni- 
ficent sight by not arriving in time to be present on the 
occasion. 



106 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



My husband took with him to Syria a little work of 
Dr. Wetzstein, published in Berlin in the year I860,* 
in which an interesting description is given of the com- 
position of an army of the f Anezeh Arabs, which I make 
no excuse for reproducing here in an English form. It is 
as follows : — The principal if not the largest portion of 
the army is composed of cavalry (Me/), also called spear- 
men {ahl-er-rimahh). They are armed with spears and 
swords, and a few also with carbines, which however 
they fire off only in case of necessity, and then rarely 
more than once. All the leaders wear iron helmets 
and iron coats- of- mail, very carefully wrought, which 
come from Persia. At the head of each troop of horse- 
men are the fedawiyeh, or forlorn-hope, mostly consist- 
ing of negro slaves of athletic build and great courage. 
Born in the tribe itself, they are ever ready to sacrifice 
themselves for its honour. The battle is always com- 
menced by the cavalry, who thus give the other portions 
of the army time to take up their positions. These con- 
sist of camel-riders [dellaleh) and infantry (zulm). The 
former are mounted two and two on the swift deliil, or 
dromedary, the driver being armed with a short spear, and 
the man who sits behind imerduf) carrying a matchlock. 
On approaching the enemy they jump from their camel, 
and whilst the gunman forms for himself a breastwork 
[metaris) of stones and earth, behind which he crouches 
on the ground and begins firing, the camel-driver, in ad- 
* c Eeisebericht uber Hauran und die Trachonen.' 



EXCURSION TO HARE AN. 



107 



dition to the care of his animal, occupies himself, after 
the manner of the ancients, in catching the horses that 
may have lost their riders, in collecting weapons or 
booty of all sorts and kinds, in carrying the wounded 
on his side off the field, or in dealing to those on the 
opposite side the coup de grace. If the battle is lost, 
both rider and gunman leap on their camel and flee. 

Among the infantry there are four descriptions of 
combatants. Of these, one kind are armed with the 
khusht, a strong short spear, and another with the 
kanweh, a club of evergreen oak with a large knob. The 
third kind are the medrub-heareYS. The medrub is the 
weapon so dangerous in the hands of the Arab, which 
in the Syrian towns and in Egypt is called nebbut. It 
is a staff or pole about four yards long, made of an ex- 
tremely hard and tough wood, which is bound round in 
several places with iron rings, or with leather thongs 
twisted round with thick wire, so that it may not break 
from a blow. 

The fourth description of warriors are the slingers. 
The sling (mi/da) consists of a strong band made of wool 
or hair, with a keff — that is to say, a piece of camePs 
hide shaped like the hollow of the hand — fastened on it, 
in which is placed a pebble about as big as a middling- 
sized apple. They are able to hit their mark at a con- 
siderable distance. In times of peace the sling is used 
for killing gazelles, or in protecting the flocks from 
beasts of prey. 



108 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



All four descriptions of foot-soldiers carry in common 
a crooked knife nearly two spans long, called 'akfeh, stuck 
in the girdle which holds together their only article of 
clothing, the frock or shirt. This latter is made of 
goatVhair cloth mostly striped black and white, has 
short sleeves, and is just long enough to cover the 
thighs. The arms and legs are bare ; and as in battle 
they wear no covering on either head or feet, their 
movements are made with the greatest ease and agility. 
If they meet the foe on stony ground, the stones them- 
selves become a dangerous weapon in their hands. 
Whenever a battle is lost, there generally ensues a 
frightful massacre of the vanquished, who, as they have 
no means of defence against the pursuing cavalry nor 
any tactics, have only to trust to the swiftness of their 
feet. 

Each description of foot-soldiers forms a separate di- 
vision, separated from the others by hharat, or passages 
for the horsemen to advance or retire ; and, in accord- 
ance with ancient custom, the troops similarly armed 
on either side always face one another in combat. At 
the battle of the hill of Jokhadar, in Jedur, fought on 
July 19th, 1858, between the rival chiefs of the f Anezeh, 
there happened what to us Europeans must seem an ex- 
traordinary occurrence. The horsemen of the Ribshan 
on the side of the Ruwala, and those of the Meshatta on 
the side of the Wuld 'Ali, stood face to face for an hour 
and a half with the points of their spears crossed, wait- 



EXCUESION TO HAEEAN. 



109 



ing for the one or the other to show a naked place ; and 
this not presenting itself, the Ribshan filed off to the right 
and the Meshatta to the left, without having struck even 
a single blow ! The key to these matters could only be 
found by a military man, who should have practically 
studied the art of war of the Beduins. 

Behind the combatants generally stand the women 
and girls, who, as the Beduins do not possess any mili- 
tary music, excite the men to bravery and contempt of 
death by the shrill sounds of the zalajit (wedding-songs). 
Dr. Wetzstein told us that Ibn Zmer pathetically as- 
sured him that he and his men would much prefer peace, 
were it not that their wives thus incited them to battle ! 
This we may believe or not, as we please. 

On our road we spoke with our well-informed and 
obliging friend about the artificial subterranean canals 
so common throughout the East, of which there are a 
great many about Damascus. From him we gathered 
the following particulars respecting them. At about a 
mile — the distance being more or less according to cir- 
cumstances — from any place requiring water, and at a 
higher level, a shaft or well is sunk till water is reached. 
To this shaft is driven underground from the desired di- 
rection a horizontal adit, or at most with just sufficient 
fall, when the water from the bottom of the shaft is 
made to issue from the mouth of the adit, and is thence 
conducted wherever it may be required ; and following 
now the natural fall of the land, it serves for irrigation, 



110 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAREAIsT. 



turning mills, or any other of the purposes of a natural 
stream. In order more easily to form this adit or 
"underground canal, and also for the purpose of keeping 
it open and clean, similar shafts are sunk along its 
course at distances of a hundred yards or so ; the earth 
thrown out forming mounds round the mouths of the 
shafts, and plainly indicating their position. 

In southern Arabia the name of these subterranean 
canals is sahrij, which designation is also used in Syria. 
But Dr. Wetzstein says that in the plain of Damascus 
they are not so designated, but bear the name of kneyeh, 
which properly means an ordinary open canal cut from 
a river, of which kind there are thirty or more on both 
sides of the Barada. The reason for this difference 
of name is, that, in the plain of Damascus, water is 
found at so short a distance below the surface, that it 
often does not require any underground adit, but simply 
a short open cutting, to make it flow over the surface. 
Of such canals there are in the Merj as many proba- 
bly as fifty, most if not all of which are amply supplied 
with water from these artificial springs/ even during 
th§ summer months. As, according to my husband's 
measurement, there is a fall of about four hundred feet 
between the city and the lakes, which is equal to 
twenty-five feet in a statute mile, the plain of Damascus 
is admirably suited for the formation of such canals. 

There are also several springs in the plain, which are 
usually considered as flowing naturally, though it may 



EXCURSION TO HARRAN. 



Ill 



possibly be that in past ages they, or at least some of 
them, had an artificial origin. Of these " natural" 
springs the largest is Ain Harush, about halfway be- 
tween Damascus and Harran, which forms a tolerably 
large stream, flowing eastward, from which are derived 
canals for the irrigation of the fields of Harran, Kufren, 
and other neighbouring villages. 

Owing to the canals and ditches being full of water 
at this season of the year, we had to make a circuit by 
the village of Kufren, so that we approached Harran 
almost from the south. From a considerable distance 
the three columns, which give to the place its distin- 
guishing appellation of Ilarran-el-Avjamid, or Harran 
of the Columns, were distinctly visible, appearing almost- 
like the tall chimneys of a manufacturing village, the 
square tower of the mosque serving to represent the 
parish steeple. 

We reached Harran just before sunset, " at the time 
of the evening, even the time that women go out to 
draw water/' and as we came "without the city," we 
crossed a file of women and girls, with their pitchers on 
their heads and shoulders, going out towards the west 
to • draw water. Had we approached the place direct 
from Damascus, we should have met these " daughters 
of the men of the city," just as Abraham's servant, 
Eliezer, is recorded to have done when he " came with- 
out the city." This was a most interesting sight to us, 
as it afforded, to a certain extent, a confirmation of my 



112 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



husband's views with respect to Eliezer's visit to Harran. 
There was no time, however, for us to look after these 
women, or indeed to pay much attention to the subject, 
as it was getting late, and we had to hurry on to make 
arrangements for the night. 

On entering the village, we went straight to the 
menzuly or common reception-house for travellers, ad- 
joining the private residence, or harim, of the sheikh. He, 
in conformity with the laws of Eastern hospitality, made 
us most welcome, and at once began preparing for our 
evening meal ; but the arrangements which Yussuf and 
Ahmed commenced caused a complete revolution in his 
establishment. They brought in our table, beds, and 
all other conveniences, which they put in order in the 
menzul, nearly as well as if Mikhail had been there. 
Some of the mattrasses having got wet in crossing the 
streams, we had to borrow cushions of the sheikh to 
serve in their stead. Yussuf then installed himself in 
a room adjoining, where he set to work cooking our 
supper, for. which everything had been brought from 
Damascus, lest we should have fallen short of supplies 
here. 

Our meal was soon ready, and we invited Dr. Wetz- 
stein to partake of it. Never having before seen a dra- 
goman's complete kit, our friend was both amazed and 
amused with all our English arrangements, saying he 
was quite sure that ours was the first European table 
ever laid in Harran, as I was not less certainly the first 



EXCURSION TO HARE AN. 



113 



European lady who had been seen there. While we 
were at supper, and indeed during the whole evening, 
we had the sheikh and a number of the principal men 
of the village sitting round the room, smoking their 
pipes, staring at us, and at times discoursing with Dr. 
Wetzstein. No doubt we formed the chief topic of 
their conversation. 

In the course of the evening, and likewise during our 
ride from Sekka to Harran, Dr. Wetzstein and my 
husband had a deal of learned conversation, principally 
with reference to the latter' s views respecting Harran, 
which Dr. Wetzstein seemed fully to appreciate. When 
we saw the women going for water as we entered the 
village, we had no opportunity of asking where they 
fetched it from, but (as may be imagined) we were not 
long in the house before we inquired about it ; when, to 
our great disappointment and mortification, we learnt 
that the water was brought from a small canal running 
towards Kufren, at a little distance from tha village, 
being one of those already mentioned as being derived 
from the Harush. We made particular inquiries after 
a well, and were assured again and again that there was 
none in or near the place. We had certainly expected 
to find a well here at Harran : at the same time it was 
admitted by us all, that its non-existence at the present 
day could not be accepted as proof of the non-existence 
of one in the time of the Patriarchs. 

As it got late, and we had had on the whole a hard 

i 



114 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



day's work, I was glad, about nine o'clock, to beg the 
people to leave us, in order that we might go to bed. 
They retired at my request ; but, for some time after- 
wards, first one and then the other kept coming in with 
all sorts of excuses ; though I believe it was more for 
the purpose of seeing what we were about than any- 
thing else, and my patience was quite exhausted before 
we got entirely free from intruders. 



115 



CHAPTER VII. 

HAKKAN. 

Saturday, December 21st. — After Dr. Wetzstein had 
taken chocolate with us in the morning, he bade us 
adieu and returned to Damascus. It was a dull misty 
morning, with every appearance of rain ; and as it was 
impossible for me to think of photographing, we decided 
on going about and examining the village. Dr. Wetz- 
stein had recommended us to mount our horses and 
ride round the place; but we preferred walking, as it 
would not be practicable to make any close investiga- 
tions od horseback. We were, in the result, well re- 
paid for thus going poking about in the dirt; though 
so deep was the mud — at times over the ankles of our 
boots — and so greasy and sticky, that we could with 
difficulty move forward or keep on our legs, even with 
the support of a good stout stick, which we each of us 
carried in our hands. 

Our steps were first directed to the three Ionic co- 
lumns, which stand in nearly the centre of the town, 
but rather towards its eastern side. Two of them are 

i % 



116 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARE AN. 



complete with their capitals ; the third has about five 
feet broken off the top. We measured the height of 
one of the perfect columns, and found the shaft to be 
(as near as may be) twenty-nine feet, the base being 
two feet three inches in height. The shaft is not in one 
single piece, but is formed of blocks of stone eight and 
ten feet long, the circumference being about twelve feet. 
From the relative positions of the three columns, it 
would at first sight appear that there must have been a 
fourth, forming a square, and some of the people told 
us that they remembered a fourth ; but on measuring 
the intervals between them respectively, we found that 
towards the east it is six feet nine inches, whilst towards 
the north it is as much as seven feet nine inches. Such 
being the case, it would seem to result that they are the 
remains of two separate rows of columns. The mud 
buildings, above which tower these beautiful remains of 
a former age, prevent all means of satisfactory examina- 
tion ; but, as far as we could ascertain, the bases of the 
columns rest on a massive stone wall, forming part of 
the existing dwelling-houses, and standing about nine 
feet in height from the ground. 

The stone of which these columns are formed is de- 
scribed by my husband in the ' Journal of the Royal 
Geographical Society/ as being a highly crystalline, 
though partially vesicular, trachytic basalt. In its ex- 
foliation from the gradual operation of time and weather, 
acting probably on a concealed spheroidal concretionary 



HARRAN. 



117 



structure, may be plainly seen how ortholiths, whether 
composed of one or more than one piece, may be over- 
thrown, without the intervention of the devastating 
hand of man or any great convulsion of nature, to one 
of which causes the destruction of ancient erections is 
generally attributed. The layers of the stone separate 
themselves from the mass at its lower end, — not in a 
rectilinear but in a curvilinear form, by which the mass 
itself gradually lessens in size below. This process con- 
tinues till, the centre of gravity being transferred out- 
wards, the ortholith falls from its own weight, just as a 
tree when felled. It is sad to see the columns at Har- 
ran rapidly undergoing this silent operation of nature. 

With the aid of Ahmed and one of the villagers, we 
managed to chop some pieces of the stone off an exfo- 
liated portion of one of the columns.* We offered the 
man a bakhshish, but he would not take it, so we gave 
it to his child. We then continued our walk through 
the village. I went into the yards of the different 
houses, and looked into every hole and corner, in the 
hope of finding something deserving of notice. Every 
few paces some piece of broken column or carved stone 
met the eye. In one yard, near the columns, we found 
a large mass of carved stone, apparently a portion of 
a cornice, which may have belonged to the temple or 
other building of which the columns formed a part. 
The roof of one of the mud-houses commanded a good 

# One of these pieces has been sent to the British Museum. 



118 



A PILGEIMAGE TO HAEEAN. 



view of the town, which, as far as I could judge, con- 
sists of about 150 or 200 houses, with a mosque stand- 
ing at the western extremity of the place. 

Having seen all that was to be seen within the town, 
we next went outside of it, proceeding to the west end, 
where, beyond the mosque, is the public cemetery. At 
the near end of this, not far from the wall of the court- 
yard of the mosque, is a building, now in ruins, con- 
structed of cut stones belonging to former buildings, 
put together without mortar. Several of these are beau- 
tifully carved ; some figures of eagles being full of life, 
and some scrolls and wreaths of flowers most artistically 
executed. This ruined building is apparently the tomb 
of a Mohammedan wely or saint. In making use of 
this expression, I may be permitted to remark, that by 
several modern travellers it is applied to the tomb itself 
and not to the person interred beneath it. This is a mis- 
take ; wely being the appellation given to an eminent 
and very devout saint, and signifying a favourite of 
Heaven. 

We now entered the courtyard and looked into the 
mosque, but were of course not permitted to enter it 
without first pulling off our muddy boots, which, as there 
was nothing particular to be seen within, we did not 
care to do. It is a comparatively modern building, con- 
structed of pieces of columns and other remains of for- 
mer edifices, plastered and painted over; and it has a 
square minaret with a circular turret in the centre. 



HAKE AN. 



119 



Within the courtyard of the mosque is a small square 
building, on entering which I discovered, to my great 
surprise and delight, a well — actually a draw-well — the 
very well we had so anxiously inquired after, and which 
we had been told did not exist. I called out to my 
husband, who was in the yard outside, and his joy was, if 
possible, even greater than mine, as he had so minutely 
and accurately laid down where this well ought to be. 

Last night, when we were so positively assured there 
was no well at Harran, we endeavoured to treat it as a 
matter of indifference ; but in fact both of us felt more 
disappointed and vexed than could well be expressed, 
though neither of us liked to own our real feelings, and 
we went to bed almost sulky with each other, not daring 
to speak on so tender a subject. It is true that no argu- 
ment absolutely conclusive in favour of our identification 
of Harran can be founded on the existence of a well 
there at the present day ; but, on the other hand, a very 
powerful argument might have been raised against the 
identification, had there been no well at _ all, or had it 
been shown to be impossible, or even only unlikely, for 
one to have existed there in former times. Indeed this 
is the very line of argument that was adopted by the 
Rev. J. L. Porter, in opposition to my husband, before 
he was aware of the existence of this well, when he said, 
" It appears that the people of [the] Haran [of Scrip- 
ture] depended upon ' wells 3 for a supply of water for 
their flocks. Now this is applicable to Harran in Meso- 



120 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAEEAN. 



pot arm a, but would not be true of Harran or any place 
in the plain of Damascus, where there is abundance of 
water in the rivers and lakes." 

As the well which we thus discovered at Harran 
answers in every respect to the requirements of that 
at which the meeting between Eliezer and Rebekah took 
place, it is proper to describe it with some minuteness. 
The building already referred to as containing it, is con- 
structed of stones, apparently obtained from more ancient 
edifices, covered over with a cement of lime and mud. 
It is square in shape, and has two doors and a window, 
with a wooden ridge-roof, the floor being paved with 
stones. The well is in the north-east corner, and its 
mouth, which is built of roughly hewn stones, is about 
two feet six inches in height and three feet in width, 
the orifice being circular and about one foot six inches in 
diameter. Above the well's mouth and fastened to each 
side of it, is an iron bar bent double in the middle, from 
which by a pulley and an endless rope is suspended a 
leathern bucket, by means of which the women fill their 
pitchers. The water stands in the well about ten feet 
below its mouth. From the extremely smooth and po- 
lished surface of the stones inside the mouth, this well 
must have been in existence very long indeed, especially 
as of late years it has been comparatively little used. 
Near it, within the building, stand two stone troughs 
about one foot nine inches in width and respectively four 
feet and three feet in length, evidently of great anti- 



HARKAN. 



121 



quity, of which the use may (I think) have formerly 
been to water cattle. But since the well has been en- 
closed and covered in, they can of course no longer serve 
that purpose. We could not learn that any history 
or tradition is attached either to the well or to the 
troughs, which may be taken as a fair negative argument 
in their favour. 

Seeing the existence of this well, it may seem strange 
that we should have been so positively assured by the 
inhabitants that there was nothing of the sort. Still 
there is no ground for imputing wilful falsehood to those 
who told us so. They knew that the water generally 
used comes from the canal, and this must be understood 
to be all they meant or thought to say ; for they were 
not able to appreciate our curiosity concerning a matter 
in which they themselves took no interest. But that the 
water of this well is still used for household purposes, if 
not for drinking, is manifest from the fact that, while we 
were there, several women came to draw it, and took it 
away in their pitchers and pans. 

Having discovered this well, which was said not to 
exist, we were not much surprised at being told there 
was a second just outside the door of the mosque-yard, 
between it and the cemetery and near the wely's tomb. 
It is in character similar to the other within the yard, 
only rather smaller. It is however no longer used, the 
water being said to be bad \ and its mouth is covered 
with a stone, which was removed for us to look down. 



122 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



But the water of the first well — Rebek all's Well — ap- 
peared sweet and good to the taste, though evidently 
containing much saline matter in solution. Prom an 
analysis of this water which Sir Roderick I. Murchison 
had the kindness to have made at the Royal School of 
Mines, of which he is Director, it appears that it contains 
109*76 grains of solid matter in one gallon."^ This is a 
trifle more than the quantity found in the water of the 
well at Woolwich Arsenal, which amounts to 106*50 
grains of solid constituents. But it should be explained 
that the water submitted to analysis was only a small 
portion, being the residue, of a quantity of several gal- 
lons, which, after having stood several days at Damascus 
in the pitchers in which it had been brought from II ar- 
ran, was decanted into a glass vessel for transmission to 
the Queen ; as I shall shortly have occasion to relate. 

* Mr. Tookey's report was made in the following terms : — " The 
water from c Rebekah's Well' contains 109°76 grains of solid matter in 
one gallon. This consists of potash, soda, lime, magnesia, sulphuric 
acid, and chlorine, with a little organic matter. The amount of lime in 
solution in the imperial gallon is 6*08 grains ; of magnesia 17°30 grains ; 
so that the greater proportion of solid matter must consist of alkaline 
salts. The residue at the bottom of the bottle contained carbonates of 
lime and magnesia, with some earthy matter — probably clay. This 
deposit of carbonate of lime and magnesia results from the fact that the 
water has lost some carbonic acid since it was taken from the well ; so 
that the actual amount of lime in solution in the water, when taken 
from the well, would exceed 6*08 grains in the imperial gallon; the 
same remark applies equally to the amount of magnesia. The amount 
of water at disposal did not allow of a more complete analysis." 



HARE AN. 



123 



Lying along the eastern side of the wall of the build- 
ing which covers the well, we found what seemed to be 
a piece of a small column with an inscription on it. It 
is however so much covered up, partly in the wall and 
partly in the ground, and the portion exposed is so 
weather-worn, and was besides, when we saw it, so dirty 
from the rain and mud, that it was impossible to de- 
cipher it. Since our return to England, my husband 
availed himself of the Prince of Wales's visit to Damas- 
cus accompanied by Dean Stanley, to direct the latter* s 
attention to this inscription; and as Dr. Stanley was 
himself unable to visit Harran, he commissioned the 
Kev. S my lie Robson, a missionary at Damascus, to go 
there for the purpose of examining the inscription, and 
if possible bringing away the stone. 

From the account of Mr. Robson's visit published in 
the Appendix to Dr. Stanley's c Lectures on the History 
of the Jewish Church/ it appears that he went to Har- 
ran, accompanied by Mr. Sandwith and Mr. Crawford, 
in June, 1862, six months after the date of our visit, and 
that he found everything much the same as described 
by my husband in a communication made to the Royal 
Geographical Society on the 7th of May, 1862,* and by 
myself more in detail in the preceding pages. Only as 

* 'Notes on an Excursion to Harran in Padan-Aram, and thence 
over Mount Grilead and the J ordan, to Shechem, by Charles T. Beke : ' 
read before the B,oyal Geographical Society on the 16th of June, 1862, 
and printed in the Society's Journal, vol. xxxii. pp. 76-100, 



124 A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAltf. 

the weather was so much brighter at the time of Mr. 
Robson's visit, with a Syrian sun of June shining, than it 
was in the December previous, when there was hardly 
light enough for me to take a photograph ; it may be 
well understood how that gentleman and his friends 
should have done more than we could towards decipher- 
ing the inscription on the column. 

His description of it is in the following terms : — " The 
beginning of the lines of the inscription are visible, but 
the ends are on the lower side of the stone and in the 
ground. Apparently there had been four lines. The 
whole is greatly worn and defaced, but several letters 
in the first line and two in the second are legible, as 
below : — 

aaua(consxi 

. A . 



Mr. Robson adds : — " The mark ( between A and C 
in the first line I do not understand, and the II was 
doubtful to us. We could not guess at a single letter in 
the third and fourth lines. The inscription had not been 
carefully cut ; the letters were not well formed nor of 
the same size, and the lines were not quite straight." 

My husband^ s first impression on seeing the inscrip- 
tion was that the characters were Roman ; but on our 
second visit to Harran on December 30th, when the day, 
though dull, was not quite so dark, he fancied he could 



HARE AN. 



125 



distinguish so many gable-shaped letters, as to make him 
conclude that they could not all be A, but must some 
of them be A ; and that consequently the language of 
the inscription would prove to be Greek. But from the 
few letters deciphered by Mr. Robson, it appears quite 
clearly to be Latin. 

I have now to add, that since the manuscript of the 
present work was placed in the printer's hands, my hus- 
band has received from Dr. Wetzstein a copy of a paper 
on a selection from the numerous Greek and Latin in- 
scriptions collected by him in Syria, communicated to 
and printed by the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin j 
among which inscriptions is one found in the neighbour- 
ing village of Ghassule on a Roman milestone, of which 
the following is a transcript : — 

DDM 
COKSTANTII 
VICTORIOSISSIMI 
AVG ET COXSTANTII 
NOBILL CAESARIS 
MP 

Whence it would seem that the column discovered by us 
at Harran is a Roman milestone of similar character. 

What name Harran bore as a Roman city, and how 
long it retained that name, we have not at present the 
means of determining. But it had at all events resumed 
its Scriptural appellation before the twelfth century of 



126 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



the Christian era; for Harran is mentioned as cc one of 
the towns of the Ghutha of Damascus " by the Arabian 
geographer, Yakut, who flourished during that century. 

Having finished our explorations within and about the 
town, we proceeded a little way out of it, in a south- 
westerly direction, passing through some vineyards as 
far as the canal which supplies it with water, and which 
appears to have been recently cut or at all events re- 
opened, the earth thrown up along its banks having been 
but a short time dug out of its bed. We were particu- 
larly struck with the vines, which presented a very diffe- 
rent appearance from any we had ever seen before. In 
England the vines grow entirely under shelter, or else 
trained against a wall; in France and Germany they 
climb up sticks like miniature hops ; in Italy they are 
trained over trellis-work or hang in festoons from tree 
to tree; on the sides of Lebanon the vines, though 
nearly as large as they are here, are allowed to trail over 
the rocky ground ; whereas here at Harran, as we ap- 
proach the country where " Noah began to be an hus- 
bandman and planted a vineyard," the vines are planted 
in regular order at some distance one from another, like 
the cherry and other fruit trees in our Kentish orchards, 
each being pruned into a tree or bush, which stands 
quite erect without any prop, trellis, or other support. 
At the season of the year when we saw them they were 
not in leaf, and they presented the appearance of gigan- 
tic gooseberry bushes ; when covered with foliage and 



HAERAN. 



127 



with fruit they must look magnificent. We were told that 
sticks have then to be placed under the loaded branches, 
to prevent the grapes from touching the ground. 

The plain of Damascus is peculiarly fitted for the pas- 
turage of sheep, as it always has been since the time of 
the patriarchs ; the history of Laban and J acob showing 
the former to have been a wealthy sheep-farmer, very 
much resembling many of our countrymen in Australia 
at the present day. In like manner the neighbourhood 
of Damascus has in all times been celebrated for its wine. 
The grapes of Halbun, a village about as far to the north- 
ward of the city as Harran is to the east, are greatly es- 
teemed for their rich flavour, and from them is made the 
best and most highly-prized wine of the country. Sheep 
and grapes, or I should rather say wool and wine, -being 
then especially the produce of the neighbourhood of Da- 
mascus; we can perceive the force of the text of the 
prophet Ezekiel, in which, when enumerating the coun- 
tries which traded with Tyre and the various articles in 
which they dealt, it is said, "Damascus was thy mer- 
chant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for 
the multitude of all riches ; in the wine of Helbon and 
white wool." 

The city of Haleb or Aleppo in Northern Syria has 
usually been considered as representing the Helbon of 
Scripture on account of the partial similarity of name, 
although Aleppo w T as never famous either for its wine 
or for its wool ; and even if it had been, it is not very 



128 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



intelligible how Tyre should have traded with Aleppo 
through Damascus. But Halbun, a place so celebrated 
for its wine at the present day, being in the immediate 
neighbourhood of Damascus, it is manifest that this is 
the wine-producing Helbon of Scripture. This too is 
the Chalybon of profane history, the wine of which place 
is described by the geographer Strabo as forming one of 
the luxuries of the kings of Persia; and which wine was 
supposed by our learned 6C authorities " to have been the 
produce of Aleppo, although it is expressly declared to 
have been made at Damascus in Syria, from vines planted 
there by the Persians. This error with regard to the 
identification of Helbon is precisely similar to that of 
Harran. In both cases the true sites having been lost, 
others at a distance were fixed on by some blind leaders 
of the blind, from the mere resemblance of name, with- 
out any regard to their suitableness in other respects. 

The modern village of Harran appears to be in a 
thriving condition, its inhabitants, like the patriarchs of 
old, possessing large flocks and herds ; and in addition to 
their vineyards they have extensive fields under tillage. 
In one of these fields we saw six ploughs at work, turn- 
ing in the manure, which was thickly spread over the 
ground. There are no trees about the place, though 
we noticed a few young plantations of poplars and planes, 
which would seem as if the people were intent on sup- 
plying the deficiency. 

We should have liked to visit the lake lying at some 



HAKRAN. 



129 



little distance to the eastward of Harran, but the wea- 
ther was so unfavourable, and the ground was in so bad a 
state from the quantity of rain that had fallen, that we 
found it impracticable. In the best-known maps the 
river Barada is marked as flowing into two lakes named 
Bahret-esh-Sharkiyeh and Bahret-el-Kibliyeh ; but in 
Dr. Wetzstein's recent map these two are laid down as 
forming portions of one single lake, to which he gives 
the name of Bahret-el-Atebeh, as we ourselves heard it 
called at Harran. Had we been able to visit the lake, 
we should no doubt have found it at this season of the 
year covering a greater extent of ground than is shown 
even in Dr. Wetzstein's map. In the dry season the 
northern and southern portions appear to form two lakes, 
united by a narrow channel of water, as described by 
Mr. Porter several years ago. The lake further to the 
south, into which the Awaj or Pharpar flows, is called 
B ahr et- el- H ij aneh. 

The whole of the morning was so completely over- 
cast, that it was quite impossible to attempt photograph- 
ing ; and as we did not wish to remain here on the Sun- 
day, we decided on at once returning to Damascus. We 
could not however leave Harran without taking with us 
some water from Bebekah's Well, which we thought 
would prove an acceptable offering to our Sovereign, as 
the first fruits of what cannot but be considered a very 
important discovery. For this purpose, we arranged 
with the sheikh of the village to let us have a couple of 

K 



130 



A PILGKIMAGE TO BARRAN. 



pitchers filled with water, and a man with a horse to 
carry them to Damascus with us. When we got to the 
door of the mosque-yard, we found the man with his 
horse already there, and a couple of girls, one of them a 
very pretty one about the age of sixteen, with pitchers 
full of water on their heads, ready for the man to load on 
his horse. This, however, would not satisfy me, as I was 
ambitious to draw the water for our beloved Queen with 
my own hands. I therefore had the pitchers emptied, 
went with the two girls to the well, drew up the water in 
the bucket, and with it filled the pitchers. 

Before the two pitchers of water were placed on the 
horse's back, I did for my husband as Rebekah is re- 
corded to have done for Eliezer. According to the words 
of Scripture, Abraham's servant " said, Let me, I pray 
thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher. And she said, 
Drink, my lord : and she hasted, and let down her pitcher 
upon her hand, and gave him drink." Here at the same 
spot, after a lapse of nearly four thousand years, a very 
similar scene was enacted ; and it is most probable that 
the native earthen pitcher, which I used on the occasion, 
was of the very same kind as that used by BethueFs 
daughter. It is with no little gratification that I am 
able to state that I brought my pitcher away with me, 
and that I have it safe at home. 

The two pitchers having been placed, one on each side 
of the horse, in a sort of double pannier, they were kept 
firm by stuffing round them some straw or dried reeds, 



HARRAN. 



131 



a little of which was also put into the mouths of the 
pitchers, to prevent the water from spilling. While 
thus engaged, and indeed throughout the whole morning, 
we had been followed everywhere by at least fifty or 
sixty men, women, and children, who, not content with 
gazing in wonderment at all we did, kept pressing and 
crowding on us most annoyingly. The women too were 
most curious to examine every article of my dress. But 
what seemed to strike them most was the net in which 
my hair was done up, from which they could not keep 
their fingers; and they at last became so unbearable, 
that the kawass had to pull them away from me by main 
force, keeping them and the children at a respectful 
distance,, by running after them with a stick, or throwing 
stones at them. 

It was however scarcely fair to be so hard on the poor 
women for their curiosity respecting my dress ; because 
I, on my side, was quite as desirous of examining theirs. 
But whenever I approached any of them too closely, 
they immediately ran off, and could not be prevailed on 
to stop, even by the promise of the usually all-powerful 
bakhshish. However, I at length induced one of the 
girls that had helped me at the well, to stand still and 
let me examine her dress. 

It consisted of a long indigo-blue cotton gown, with 
long sleeves ; a dark-red apron, with a border at the 
bottom flowered yellow, and with a red and yellow 
fringe ; a broad scarlet waistband, flowered yellow ; a 

K % 



132 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



black cotton handkerchief over the head, and fastened 
under the chin ; over this, bound broad and flat round 
the head as a turban, a chintz handkerchief, black, with 
green and yellow flowered stripes ; and lastly, a white 
shawl or kefiya, with white and blue fringes, thrown 
over the back of the head and shoulders, and crossed in 
front. This may be taken to represent the ordinary 
dress of the females of Harran. Many of them, but 
not all, had small nose-rings, as also necklaces and 
bracelets. We did not see any anklets. Neither did we 
perceive any of the women, old or young, with veils or 
face-coverings of any kind ; but of course the ends of 
the white shawi worn over the head and shoulders, could 
at any time be brought forward so as to conceal the 
lower part of the face. 

The packing of our luggage was a work of much more 
difficulty and trouble than it would have been had Mi- 
khail been with us ; but at length we were all fairly off, 
mules, water and all. Before taking leave of the sheikh 
we gave him, through Ahmed, what we conceived to be 
a very liberal allowance for the keep of our animals, 
and also a present for himself, with which to all appear- 
ance he was perfectly satisfied, and we parted on the best 
terms ; he and several of the principal villagers accom- 
panying us outside the village, where they took leave of 
us. I mention this more particularly here, as I shall 
have occasion to revert to the subject, when I come to 
narrate our second visit to Harran. 



HARKAN. 



133 



Our road on leaving the village lay at first between 
vineyards on the one side and ploughed fields on the 
other. I did not mount my horse immediately, but 
walked a little way through the vineyards with my gun, 
in the hope of having some sport, as I was told there 
was an abundance of partridges and birds of all kinds, as 
well as hares, in the vineyards; but I was not fortunate 
enough to see more than one bird, which I fired at and 
missed. After I had mounted my horse, we proceeded 
on our way for some distance, when, finding the mules 
with the baggage had remained behind, I galloped back 
to see what was the cause; leaving my husband to go on 
with Ahmed and the man with the jars of water, whom 
he was afraid to let go out of his sight, lest he should 
repeat a trick which we had already caught him playing 
us. This was to drive his horse on some distance ahead, 
and then to squat quietly down and smoke his pipe, 
whilst the horse was left to graze about, or to lie down 
with the water-jars on his back, as he might feel inclined. 

When I reached the mules, I found they had got into 
a mess in crossing a watercourse, one of them having 
refused to go through the water. This caused con- 
siderable delay ; but, as soon as they were all right and 
had fairly started afresh, I left them, and rode off across 
the plain to catch up my husband, who in the meanwhile 
had got so far in advance that I could not see him. 
However, I continued along the route I imagined him to 
have taken, in the best way I could, till I came to a 



134 



A PILGEJMAGE TO HAEEAN. 



stream, where I lost the track, and in seeking for this 
I at length lost myself altogether. 

I now wandered about over the plain, galloping as 
fast as I could go in every direction, only now and then 
falling in with a shepherd, of whom I asked the way to 
Damascus with the few words of Arabic I had picked up. 
Either they did not understand me or I could not under- 
stand them ; but it seemed to me they were only direct- 
ing me to their own villages, the names of which I knew, 
but all of which, as far as I understood, were out of my 
way. Thus I strayed about for miles, passing by some 
encampments of sedentary Arabs, and crossing several 
canals and streams, till my horse and myself were fairly 
worn out, and it began to get dark. I could find no 
one to put me in the right way : some wanted me to go 
with them to their village — the nearest village— to sleep, 
whence I might go on in the morning. It was most 
kindly meant, no doubt, but it was anything but sooth- 
ing or agreeable to me, whatever it might have been to 
my horse had I accepted the invitation. It was fortunate 
perhaps that they did not know I was a female ; for, as 
I wore a long cloak and a boy's cap on my head, they took 
me for a youth, calling after me ya ivelled, as I dashed 
past them. However, I persisted in going on, and after 
scouring the plain in every direction, I at length got into 
the right road; and just as the night was closing in, 
I reached the village of El Meliha, passing through which, 
quite heart-sick and tired, I all at once heard myself called 



HARK AN. 



135 



to by the well-known voice of my husband. I cannot 
describe how thankful I felt. 

His going on so far without me had been caused by a 
mistake on the part of Ahmed, if it was not something 
worse. Finding me remain so long behind, my hus- 
band had repeatedly sent Ahmed back to look for me, 
taking for granted that I was keeping with the mules in 
order to bring them on with me. Ahmed, after gallop- 
ing back some little distance, invariably returned with 
the assurance that he could see me with the rest, and 
that we were close at hand. Whether he saw the mules 
at all I will not take on myself to say • but that he saw 
me with them was a downright falsehood, for I had not 
even set eyes on them from the time I left them after I 
had first turned back. I suspect it had been planned 
between Ahmed and the muleteer that we should all 
pass the night at El Meliha, and enter Damascus early 
in the morning, so as to make another day of it; for 
which there would of course be extra pay for the mules, 
extra bakhshish for our escort, and all sorts of supple- 
mental expenses. 

From my husband I learned that, as he was every 
moment expecting me to catch him up, and as he did 
not dare quit the water-carrier, he had gone on leisurely 
with him through the village of Nola, — where in the 
stream of the Harush he saw a quantity of keneb, or 
hemp, steeping, with large stones laid on it to keep it 
down in the water, — and thence through Bzene and 



136 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



Zibdin, and so on to El Meliha. He had not been par- 
ticularly anxious on my account, in consequence of the 
repeated assurances of that fellow Ahmed that I was in 
sight ; but at El Meliha he got very uneasy, and insisted 
on not going on further till I caught him up. This 
quite suited Ahmed's arrangements; for he had evidently 
made up his mind to pass the night at El Meliha. 

On my arrival, without alighting from my horse, I 
took a cup of coffee, and then waited a few minutes 
to see whether the mules would arrive. Finding they 
did not come on, we determined on proceeding to Da- 
mascus in the dark, in spite of the urgent dissuasions 
of Ahmed. On reaching the gate of the city we found 
it shut. For more than a quarter of an hour we kept 
on knocking at the door, calling out to the bawab (door- 
keeper), offering bakhshish, declaring ourselves to be 
English and escorted by the English Consul's kawass, 
but without getting any one to attend to us. I do not 
think we should have been let in at all, had I not fired 
off my revolver and threatened to storm the gate ! 
When at length the door-keeper came, he did not dare 
let us in till he had gone to the guard-house, a little 
way up the street, and got permission to open the gate ; 
and when he returned bringing the key, he was accom- 
panied by two or three soldiers, to whom, as a matter 
of course, we had to give bakhshish, as well as to the 
worthy bawab himself. 

When we entered the city, we found it almost in total 



HARE AN. 



137 



darkness, with every house shut up, and the inhabitants 
apparently all gone to bed ; and how we found our w-ay 
to the hotel was a marvel. We dashed on through the 
narrow streets and bazars, all of which were deserted 
except by the dogs, on which our horses kept treading 
at almost every step, making them howl in the most 
hideous manner. Every now and then our horses, to 
which we had to trust more than to ourselves, kept bump- 
ing us against the corners of the houses and the closed 
shop- windows, and jolting us against one another in the 
most ludicrous manner. It was famous fun, notwith- 
standing ; and the thought of my having got free from 
my great anxiety in the plain, probably made me enjoy 
all the more these trifling difficulties within the city ; so 
that we kept on laughing and joking all the way till we 
reached the hotel, where we arrived about eight o'clock, 
to the utter astonishment of our host and his family, 
who had no idea of seeing us return at that late hour 
of the night. However, they soon prepared us some 
supper, after which we were glad enough to seek our 
night's rest. 



138 



CHAPTER VIII. 

DAMASCUS. 

Sunday, December 22nd. —This morning when we got 
up, we were told that we had not retired to rest more 
than five minutes when it began to rain heavily, and 
continued to do so all night. How fortunate it was 
that we left Harran yesterday as we did, and how right 
it was of us not to be induced to sleep at El-Meliha ! 

On sending to inquire at the English Consulate 
whether there would be divine service this morning, we 
were told that there are not sufficient English residents 
for the service to be performed in our language, but that 
there would be service in Arabic at the American Con- 
sulate at noon. As this would not have edified us much, 
we did not attend, but preferred reading prayers at 
home. We regretted afterwards that we did not attend 
the service at the American Consulate, as it would have 
afforded us, - and especially my husband, an opportunity 
of making the acquaintance of the members of the two 
missions, American and English, stationed in Damascus. 



DAMASCUS. 



139 



It was not till past ten o'clock that the mules arrived 
with our baggage. Nasib and Yussuf had, as we ex- 
pected, passed the night in one of the villages and come 
on slowly this morning, with a view to be enabled to 
charge for the third day. For this we were fully pre- 
pared ; and as there had been plenty of time for them 
to come on with us yesterday evening, if they had not 
purposely lagged behind, and as NasiVs pay was most 
Liberal, — sixty francs for six animals for the two days, — 
my husband paid him that amount, and sent him about 
his business, in spite of all his remonstrances and pro- 
testations ; and, on account of his attempt to impose on 
us, we would not even give him a farthing of bakhshish. 
To the man who brought on the water from Harran 
we gave about five francs, — a very liberal allowance for 
his day's labour, including the cost of the pitchers ; with 
which remuneration he went off highly contented, and 
returning us no end of thanks. We had made the girls 
at Harran a present before leaving, so that we con- 
sidered we had left behind us in that place a favourable 
impression, which we were desirous of doing under all 
the circumstances of our visit. 

Monday, December 23rd. — In the morning we went 
out to look about the city, passing through the bazars, 
for the purpose of examining them and viewing the 
mosques and public buildings, and also of purchasing 
a few articles of which we were in need. As I was 
already acquainted with the bazars of Cairo, I was not 



140 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



so much struck with these of Damascus as I might 
otherwise have been. They appear, however, to be more 
extensive than those of Cairo ; and, as may well be ima- 
gined, they have a more decidedly Oriental look, being 
generally narrower and more covered in, so as to be 
very gloomy and cool on entering from the glare and 
heat of the sun. They are different too in this respect, 
that the various trades are each confined to a separate 
quarter, instead of being intermixed as they mostly are 
at Cairo. During those parts of the day, too, which 
are usually given to shopping, the crowds of purchasers 
and idlers were perhaps greater than in Cairo ; but out 
of business hours the shops were comparatively de- 
serted. Not so at Cairo, where the bazar is one continu- 
ous scene of bustle and confusion the whole day long. 

We also went into some of the khans or caravan- 
serais : large, strong, fireproof buildings, in which the 
wholesale merchants deposit their goods and transact 
their business. The finest of these is the great khan 
of Asad Pasha. It is a magnificent square building, of 
which the court is covered with nine fine domes, richly 
ornamented; the centre one being supported by four 
columns, in the centre of which is a round marble basin 
with a fountain of running water. Round the sides of 
the court below, and also along an upper gallery, are 
the warehouses of the merchants. It is much to be 
regretted that some of the beautiful side-domes have 
fallen in, and have been replaced by a common wooden 



DAMASCUS. 



141 



roof. They are said to have been destroyed by an earth- 
quake many years ago. It is not in accordance with 
the habits of these people to repair a ruin : they prefer 
erecting a new building, and letting the old one go al- 
together to decay. In Egypt we saw repeated instances 
of this. 

Shortly after our return to the hotel we received a. 
visit from Dr. Wetzstein, who kindly remained some 
time with us, discussing our intended journey to Mount 
Gilead, the road we ought to take, and the means to be 
adopted for ensuring our safety. As only last year he 
went over a part of the country east of Jordan which 
we were about to transverse, he was able to furnish us 
with much valuable information. He told us that the 
present maps, even that accompanying his own little work 
published in Germany in 1860, are faulty in many par- 
ticulars. He suggested that if he could find us an escort 
from the tribe of Beni Sakhr, this would be quite suffi- 
cient to carry us in safety the whole way across the 
Ghor, or valley of the Jordan ; and he promised to try 
and find one of the tribe in Damascus. If he should 
not be successful, he would give us letters to one of their 
principal sheikhs. The Leja is occupied by the Sulut 
Arabs, and it might be advisable to have one of them 
as an escort ; but none of the tribe were likely to be 
met with in Damascus, as they were on anything but 
good terms with the Turkish Government, and in fact a 
price had been set on the heads of some of their chiefs. 



142 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAERAN. 



It was only on the previous Friday that two heads had 
been brought in and presented to the Mushir Pasha or 
Seraskier. On their being thrown down before his Ex- 
cellency, he rose from his divan, stamped on the heads, 
spat on them, and kicked them about, cursing them all 
the while in the choicest Turkish. This was looked on 
as an act of great valour, as showing how he would treat 
the whole of the tribe if they dared to come in his way. 
We should regard it in a different light. The heads 
were first hung up at the citadel, and then exposed on 
a black board in the Arab bazar, — that is to say, the 
bazar where are sold all the articles used by the Beduins 
of the Desert. 

Tuesday, December 2Mh. — This morning we received a 
letter from Mr. Heald, announcing the arrival of Mikhail 
at Beyrout, and his departure again for this place ; so that 
we might expect him back again shortly. Mr. Heald also 
forwarded us some letters from England, which we were 
indeed rejoiced to receive. While my husband went to 
call upon our Consul, I occupied myself with reading 
and answering my letters, previously to our intended 
departure. In the afternoon we both went to visit 
Dr. Wetzstein. He received us in the most cordial 
manner, apologizing for not being able to entertain us 
as he could have wished ; as everything was packed up 
preparatory to his departure for Europe, and the whole 
place consequently was in great disorder. After taking 
coffee, which is usually the first thing done on paying 



DAMASCUS. 



143 



or receiving visits, he made us taste some of the famous 
wine of Helbon, made in his own house at Damascus, 
from grapes sent to him by the inhabitants of that place. 
It is a sweet oily wine and very good, and if made with 
care would, no doubt, be deserving of its ancient repu- 
tation. 

Helbon is noted not more for its wine than for the 
stupidity of its inhabitants, whose reputation in this re- 
spect is similar to that of the wise men of Gotham, as 
the waggish Merry Andrew styled his countrymen, the 
barons of Pevensey. Among the ridiculous stories fa- 
thered on them, I will here repeat a few. 

Once upon a time the inhabitants of Helbon de- 
clared themselves independent, and were going to esta- 
blish a government of their own, but found themselves 
unable to carry out their intention, because there were 
not men enough in the place to fill all the public offices. 

Another time, it is said, the good folks of Helbon 
wished to drag a little on one side a mountain which 
kept the midday sun from their village. With this object 
they tied a rope to a large oak growing on the moun- 
tain, and pulled at it till the rope broke, and gave many 
of them so severe a fall, that they were content to post- 
pone the removal of the mountain till some more fitting 
opportunity. 

On another occasion, when there was a total eclipse 
of the moon, the inhabitants of Helbon took it into 
their heads that the people of a neighbouring village 



144 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAS RAN. 



had stolen that planet. Accordingly, they all turned out 
armed against their neighbours, to force them to give 
them back their moon but before they had quite reached 
the village the eclipse was over, and the moon reap- 
peared in full splendour. On this they returned home 
in triumph, boasting that their neighbours had given 
them back their moon for fear of them. 

A native of Helbon was once driving to Damascus 
a donkey, laden with wood for sale; when, the load 
being too heavy for the poor animal, he considerately 
took it off and put it on his own shoulders, and then 
mounting the donkey, he rode on it into Damascus. 

Another of these Syrian Gothamites, who wanted to 
purchase a cradle for his child, measured the length of 
it with his two hands, and so went to Damascus, keep- 
ing his hands stretched out at the exact distance from 
one another. In passing through the crowded streets, first 
the one arm and then the other got knocked out of its 
place by the passers-by, so that the good man soon lost 
his measure. On this he hurried back home, and tied 
between his outstretched hands a stick the exact length 
of the cradle, and thus succeeded in reaching the car- 
penter's shop and giving him the correct measure. 

A boy once thrust his hand into a narrow-necked 
pitcher containing walnuts, and having filled his hand 
with them, was unable to draw it out again. He cried 
bitterly; the whole village assembled to deliberate on 
what was best to be done, and the wise man of the place 



DAMASCUS. 



145 



gave it as his opinion that the boy's hand must be cut 
off ; when fortunately a stranger, who happened to be 
passing by, freed the boy from the danger he was in, by 
telling him to let go the walnuts, and so draw his hand 
out of the pitcher empty, as he had put it in. 

During our visit to Dr. TVetzstein, we had again a 
long talk about our journey. He had not yet seen any 
of the Beni-Sakhr Arabs. While we were there, a Le- 
vantine gentleman came in, to whom our host spoke on 
the subject, and who promised to look after one for us. 
He appeared to understand the country east of Jordan 
and its inhabitants, quite as well as Dr. TVetzstein him- 
self, and expressed his opinion that there would be no 
difficulty in finding a protector for us. For our escort 
through the hostile country of the Sulut Arabs he re- 
commended a Druze, as somehow or other those people 
are on good terms with all the tribes. . 

Dr. Wetzstein had some beautiful gazelles, which 
were quite tame, running about the house like dogs. 
It was a pretty sight to see these graceful little ani- 
mals following him from room to room, and coming to 
us to eat nuts and biscuits out of our hands. He said 
he intended to take them with him to Germany, as they 
were great pets of his wife. 

It is curious how these animals are caught by the 
Beduins in the desert country lying to the east of Har- 
ran. Two walls of considerable length are erected, com- 
mencing at some distance from each other, and con- 

L 



146 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



verging to a point. Before the two ends quite meet, a 
mound of earth is thrown up between them, and the two 
walls, being continued beyond this mound, are united 
by a cross-wall of about half their height ; behind this 
lower wall is a large pit, the earth dug out of which 
had served to form the mound. Horsemen now con- 
trive to drive a herd of gazelles between the two walls, 
where they are furthest apart. The timid animals rush 
forward towards the extremity of the enclosure, at 
first not seeing the low cross-wall, which is hidden by 
the mound of earth; and when, at length, they find 
themselves closed in on both sides, they naturally try 
to escape by ascending the mound and leaping over the 
low wall, when they fall into the pit beyond it, and are 
taken, often as many as twenty or thirty at a time. 

Wednesday, December 25th (Christmas Day) , — When 
we quitted England, my husband had been obliged to 
leave behind him a box containing the instruments he 
wanted for use on the journey ; they having been packed 
so badly by the maker, as not to be in a state fit to bear 
the knocking about of travelling. He was promised they 
should be ready before our departure, but at the last 
moment we were compelled to start without them. We 
were then assured they should be sent out to us by 
the next steamer; but at the time of our departure 
from Alexandria they had not arrived, and it was only 
by the letter received from Mr. Heald yesterday that we 
heard of their having at length reached Beyrout. As 



DAMASCUS. 



147 



Mikhail was expected so soon, my husband went at once 
to the electric- telegraph office, and dispatched a tele- 
gram to Mr. Heald, requesting him to forward the box 
of instruments immediately, as it was essential to have 
them before starting on our journey. Telegraphic mes- 
sages between Damascus and Beyrout — how strange it 
seems to talk of telegraphs in this part of the world ! — 
are forwarded in French, Arabic, or Turkish. My hus- 
band gave his message in French ; but on communi- 
cating with Beyrout, it was found that the French clerk 
was not at the office, so the message had to be repeated 
in Arabic. 

On his way back, my husband passed through the 
Arab bazar, where he saw the board on which had been 
exposed the heads of the two Beduin gentlemen, through 
whose country we were about to pass, which ghastly 
trophies had only just been removed. One of the Mo- 
hammedan shopkeepers was pointed out to him, as 
having, during the late massacres, sheltered and fed no 
less than five hundred Christians. The performer of so 
meritorious an action is deserving of every respect. So 
thought my husband ; and accordingly he stopped and 
saluted the worthy man, to his evident gratification. 

About twelve o'clock we were surprised by the arrival 
of Mikhail. He had performed the journey from Bey- 
rout in two days and a half, the weather having been 
bad on the road going, but fair on the way back. He 
told us that, about nine hours before arriving here, some 

L % 



148 



A PILGEIMAGE TO HAEEAN. 



Turkish soldiers had taken from him all his mules ex- 
cept two, which he had brought on. He was going to 
lodge a complaint with the British Consul, and hoped 
to be able to get other mules to replace them by to- 
morrow. 

The brothers Malluk, the well-known silk-mercers, 
who had had their house and warehouses destroyed du- 
ring the late disturbances, were staying in Demetri's 
hotel, while prosecuting their claim on the Turkish Go- 
vernment for compensation. This morning one of them 
asked me to look over a small assortment of Damascus 
scarfs and cloaks, which they still had by them. There 
were some very beautiful cloaks of rich silk, very much 
like poplin, splendidly embroidered in stripes of gold, 
which would make very handsome and not less useful 
opera cloaks. I was much inclined to purchase one ; but 
when I thought of the journey before me, I resisted the 
temptation ; contenting myself with buying a keftya, or 
scarf of striped silk, with long fringes with knotted ends, 
usually worn by the Arabs over their heads, — an article 
which I wanted to wear during the journey, and which 
proved to be of immense service to me : in fact, I do not 
know what I should have done without it. 

Our arrangement with Mikhail before his departure 
for Bey rout was, that we were to start on our journey as 
soon as practicable after his return ; and as his pay 
would not commence till then, he was naturally desirous 
that our agreement should come into operation as soon 



DAMASCUS. 



149 



as possible. We on our side had no special inducement 
to remain in Damascus, at a time of year when the rain 
confined us so much to the house, and when in fact the 
unhealthiness of the season was likely to make us both 
ill, if we made any lengthened stay. I was indeed my- 
self beginning to feel very unwell, and was only afraid 
I might be laid up altogether. However my husband 
doctored me with quinine, etc., and I was fortunately 
preserved from absolute illness. 

Such being the case, we arranged with Mikhail that 
we would positively start for Harran on the following 
Saturday, or Sunday at the latest ; and we sent him to 
inform Dr. Wetzstein of our intention, and to ascertain 
what he had been able to do with respect to our escort. 
He told "Mikhail that he had not yet succeeded in find- 
ing a Beni Sakhr as he had wished ; and that if he con- 
tinued unsuccessful, we must engage a Druze to accom- 
pany us as far as Mezarib, where we must send down 
into the Ghor for one of the sheikhs of the Beni Sakhr. 
He would, however, communicate with my husband on 
the subject. It was clear to me that we were likely to 
have a great deal of difficulty in getting off with these 
people, who are always talking of bukrah. inshallah ! — 
"to-morrow, please God/' 

It was now time for Mikhail to come to some under- 
standing w r ith us about money ; and as he asked us 
for forty pounds in advance, we had no hesitation in 
giving him that sum, especially as our friends here ad- 



150 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



vised us to let the funds required for the journey belong 
as much as possible to him, rather than to ourselves. 
But, to our astonishment, when we inquired of him how 
much more we should require between Damascus and 
Jerusalem, he told us certainly not less than thirty or 
forty pounds. Of course he means this latter money to 
be spent by us in presents on the road, and not to go 
in further payment to himself. 

Mr. Rogers having kindly invited us to eat our Christ- 
mas dinner at the Consulate, we left the hotel about sun- 
set. We had thought of going on horses or donkeys; 
but the latter animals were not to be had, and Mikhail 
strongly recommended us to walk, on account of the slip- 
pery state of the streets, which are much worse when 
half dry than when they are full of liquid mud : so we 
put on our boots and trudged away. Mr. Rogers gave 
us a hearty welcome. The only other guest was Mr. 
Waddington, who on this occasion was an Englishman, 
as on the jour de Van he said he should of course be a 
Frenchman. Though so far away from home, the En- 
glish plum-pudding was not wanting on the board, and 
we did not fail to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy 
New Year to all at home. As may well be imagined, 
our intended journey formed the principal topic of con- 
versation. It was clear both to Mr. Rogers and to Mr. 
Waddington that we must not go at all through or near 
the country of the Sulut Arabs. We should keep on the 
northern side of the Awaj as far as possible, in fact 



DAMASCUS. 



151 



as far as Kisweh, where we should have to turn to the 
south ; though even this would not absolutely secure us 
from the Sulut : for, only two months ago, their sheikh, 
Bghitan (the nearest approach to this unpronounceable 
name is Britan, the r having the Northumbrian burr), 
a most formidable person as it would seem, crossed the 
river and plundered a village close to Damascus. The 
best plan, in their opinion, was that Mr. Rogers should 
procure us a Druze escort from Kisweh as far as Meza- 
rib or thereabouts, where we should be handed over to 
the Beni Sakhr Arabs. 

This advice that we should keep along the north side 
of the Awaj quite approved itself to my husband's judge- 
ment. In undertaking our journey, it was his special 
object to follow as closely as possible in the footsteps 
of the patriarch Jacob in his flight from Padan-Aram ; 
and from a consideration of the incidents related in the 
30th and 31st chapters of the Book of Genesis, it ap- 
peared to him that he was far more likely to do so by 
proceeding up the left bank of the Awaj, before crossing 
the river, than by at once passing over it at Nejha. It 
is but natural to suppose, that, in choosing the pasture- 
ground for the flocks placed under his charge by Laban, 
the patriarch should have had in contemplation his sub- 
sequent evasion, and that he would have selected a spot 
which lay in the direction of the land of Canaan, that 
is to say, as far as he could conveniently go along the 
banks of the river westward. Now, on the opposite side 



152 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAKKAN. 



of the Awaj, between Nejha and Kisweh, is a moun- 
tainous district, called Jebel-em-Manihh ; and it is not to 
be imagined that, on his first crossing the river, the fugi- 
tive would have driven his numerous flocks and herds up 
into those mountains. On the contrary, we are told that 
" he rose up and passed over the river, and set his face 
toward the Mount Gilead which must be understood 
to mean, that after crossing the river Pharpar or Awaj 
he took a straight course over the plains in the direction 
of that mountain. When we came to perform the jour- 
ney ourselves, it was seen how completely my husband's 
anticipations were realized. 

On our speaking with Mr. Rogers and Mr. Wadding- 
ton about the review of the c Anezeh Arabs, of which Dr. 
Wetzstein had given us so interesting a description on 
our way together to Harran, both our friends doubted 
the accuracy of his estimate of Mohammed-ed-Duhhy's 
forces. The next day, however, Mr. Waddington met 
Dr. Wetzstein at our hotel, when the latter explained 
that he did not mean to assert that the whole number 
were of Mohammed's own tribe, but that altogether he 
commanded the number stated ; as he had with him 
more than half of his adversary Fasail's tribe, the Ro- 
haili, besides others. With this explanation, Mr. Wad- 
dington admitted that their number might not have been 
overrated. Mohammed's tribe alone encamped within 
the Merj : the others were stationed in the Desert, east 
of the lakes. All these tribes belong, however, to the 



DAMASCUS. 



153 



f Anezeh, who form one of the great divisions of the "Be- 
duins of the Syrian Desert. 

Sheikh Mijwel, of whom we had heard so much before 
we left England, turns out to be but a secondary sort of 
person. His importance arises from the fact, that the 
encampment of the subtribe of the 'Anezeh to which he 
belongs (of which however he is not the chief), is in the 
neighbourhood of Damascus, so that he has acquired a 
sort of monopoly in supplying the escort to European 
travellers visiting Baalbec and Palmyra. His having 
married an Englishwoman is also a reason for his being 
a marked man among tourists. When his tribe are in 
the vicinity of Damascus, he resides with his wife, Mrs. 
Digby, in a house which she has purchased in the out- 
skirts of the city. When the tribe are in the Desert, or 
Sheikh Mijwel has to escort a party of Europeans to 
Baalbec or Palmyra, his wife usually accompanies him. 
I do not at all know why he should be called Miguel, 
as if his name were Spanish or Portuguese. Mr. Rogers 
tells us it is Mijwel, the word having, when written in 
Arabic characters, the precise pronunciation of Midge - 
well ; and that, though uncommon, the name is not sin- 
gular among the Arabs, although he could not explain 
its meaning. We omitted to consult Dr. Wetzstein, who 
would no doubt have been able to throw light on the sub- 
ject. At the time when we were in Damascus poor Mij- 
wel had come to grief, he having been imprisoned for a 
debt which he had contracted, I believe, as surety for 



154 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARE AN. 



one of Ins kinsmen; but, as Mr. Rogers informed us 
when dining with him, he had that morning obtained 
from the Pasha his liberation, his wife having taken on 
herself the payment of the debt. 

Mr. Waddington is much inclined to the opinion en- 
tertained by my husband, that the possessions of the two 
tribes and a half beyond J ordan did not extend to the 
east of Gilead. The plains of Hauran, he says, are not 
at all adapted for the settled residence of a pastoral 
people ; for during the dry season they are without ver- 
dure, and almost entirely without water. 

Chatting on these and other subjects, we passed a very 
agreeable evening ; and we returned to our hotel quite 
delighted at having spent our Christmas Day in a man- 
ner so very different from what we had anticipated when 
we left England. 

Thursday, December 26th. — The morning being fine 
and bright, I availed myself of the opportunity to take 
some photographic views of the city, for which the upper- 
most terrace of the hotel afforded an excellent position. 
When I had got all ready to begin my work, the sky 
became a good deal overcast, and I was almost afraid my 
labour would have been in vain. However, as the at- 
mosphere was clear, I succeeded in taking several very 
good views. The Christian quarter of the city presents 
a most deplorable aspect, the roofs of the greater number 
of the houses having been destroyed, and many of the 
houses themselves being nothing but a heap of ruins. 



DAMASCUS. 



155 



While I was thus engaged, Dr. Wetzstein, who had 
called on my husband, was busily occupied with him in 
arranging the route we were to take, and the Arab 
sheikhs to whom we should have to give bakhshish. 
The Druzes would receive money, of which, with all the 
honourable feeling attributed to them, they seem to know 
the full value. To Ahmed-et-Turk, of Eshmiskin, we 
were to give a black cloth coat richly embroidered with 
gold, and we were to take two scarlet coats for the 
sheikhs of the Beni Sakhr. These are all the presents 
in kind that Dr. Wetzstein recommended us to take, 
but besides these there would be no end of money pre- 
sents. This being settled, Mikhail went out with Dr. 
Wetzstein's kawass, to buy the dresses. He said that if 
they were bought in the hotel there would be five or 
ten per cent, to be paid to several persons : meaning (I 
suppose) that he would prefer taking it all to himself, 
or dividing it perhaps with his comrade alone. 

The route we were to take, as settled with Dr. Wetz- 
stein, was from Kisweh, almost due south along the high 
Haj road between Damascus and Mecca, as far as Me- 
zarib, where we were to turn off to the right (westward), 
to ascend and cross Mount Gilead. As far as we could 
make out, this was the road which the patriarch Jacob 
must have taken. In fact the features of the country 
are too distinctly marked, to allow of much latitude in 
any direction. 

One day, when we were at the Consulate, Mr. Rogers 



156 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAERAN. 



showed us a large round dish of copper gilt, which he 
had purchased the day before. Round it was an Arabic 
inscription, and within this another circle, with the Ger- 
man words " Hilf Got aus Not," several times repeated. 
The Arabic is corrupt and unintelligible, it having been 
copied by European workmen, who did not understand 
the language. Dishes of this description, made at Nu- 
remberg in the sixteenth century for the Damascus 
market, are not unfrequent. 

This morning, in the course of conversation w r ith Dr. 
Wetzstein, we happened to allude to the dish we had 
seen at Mr. Rogers's ; when he told us that, while dig- 
ging for the foundations of a house he had lately built 
in his village of Ghassule, his people found several 
coined pieces, and among them one with which he was 
particularly struck. 66 On the one side" he said "it 
bore three crowns, with the words 'Gottes Segen macht 
reich and on the other side were the words" — when 
my husband finished the sentence by saying — "Hans 
Krauwinkel in Nurnberg." Dr. Wetzstein' s astonish- 
ment may well be imagined. " How came you to know 
that?" exclaimed he. It was now my husband's turn 
to relate, that, when turning up the ground at Bekes- 
bourne last year, we also had found several coins, the 
very first of which, singularly enough, was identical 
with the one described by our friend. 

As the ancient mansion of the Bekes was long the 

* "The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich." — Prov. x. 22. 



DAMASCUS. 



157 



residence of the Priors of Christ Church, Canterbury, 
before it became the palace of Archbishop Cranmer, it 
is perfectly intelligible how these Nuremberg Rechen- 
pfennige or counters should have been found on the site 
of Christ Church House; but it is not so easy to ac- 
count for their presence in Padan-Aram, unless we may 
suppose them to have been carried thither by some 
monkish pilgrims to the Holy Land. Be this as it 
may, the coincidence is not a little remarkable. 



158 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE WOMEN OF DAMASCUS. 

Friday, December 27 th— Yesterday, before leaving us, 
Dr. Wetzstein promised to procure me an introduction 
to the harim, that is to say the family, of one of the 
residents of the city. As a matter of etiquette, he ap- 
pears to have considered the introduction would come 
with more propriety from our own Consul, to whom we 
had not thought of applying, on account of his having 
only recently arrived at his post, and being (as he him- 
self told us) almost a stranger in the place. Accordingly 
this morning, soon after twelve o'clock, a young man 
called on me from Mr. Rogers, to say that a lady was 
waiting to receive me and to introduce me to her family 
and also to some of her friends. 

Without keeping the Consul's messenger waiting, I at 
once set out with him, accompanied by my dragoman ; 
and on arriving at the young lady's residence, T was re- 
ceived by her and shown into the liwan or reception- 
room, a spacious hail paved with marble, with a raised 



THE WOMEN OF DAMASCUS. 



basin of water or fountain in the centre. On the three 
sides were recesses with wooden floors, raised a foot or 
more from the pavement, and having a low divan round 
the sides of each. On the divan, round the recess facing 
the door at which I entered, were seated a number of 
ladies, who all rose on my entrance; and the mistress 
of the house, who was a Christian, came forward to the 
edge of the raised floor and gave me her hand, which 
she afterwards raised to her mouth and forehead, wel- 
coming me in Arabic. The floor was so high from the 
pavement, that I had some little difficulty in getting up 
on it, which I am afraid I did in no very dignified man- 
ner. When at last I managed to get there, I touched 
the hands of two or three of the ladies, made a bow 
to the others, and was then led to the upper end of 
the room, where I was placed on the divan, which was 
slightly higher than those down the two sides. On my 
taking my seat the other ladies resumed theirs. Beside 
me sat two or three very handsomely dressed Turkish 
ladies, visitors like myself. The floor of the room in 
which we sat was covered with w 7 hite Indian matting, 
and in front of the divans were Persian rugs. In the 
centre was a brazier containing lighted charcoal. 

Among the ladies present, nearly twenty in number, 
were several very pretty young women, whose ages varied 
from fourteen to twenty or twenty-five. They had clear 
complexions, w 7 ith beautiful languishing black eyes and 
black hair. The hair was parted a little on one side 



160 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



of the head, and cut short on each side of the face, on 
which it seemed to be plastered down quite flat, and 
down the back hung a long plaited tail, — or in some 
cases two or three tails,— said to be frequently of false 
hair. Many of them wore a sort of flat wreath or co- 
ronet of artificial flowers and leaves made of muslin, 
reaching across the forehead and along one side of the 
head. Some wore black waistcoats embroidered in gold, 
fitting close to the neck, with loose light-coloured silk 
jackets, lined and trimmed with fur. The skirts of their 
dresses were of thin silk, quite plain, and reaching down 
to the feet like our own dresses, only under theirs they 
wore long loose trousers. On their feet they had thin 
coloured boots, and some only socks, fitting tight, over 
which they put on coloured slippers on descending from 
the raised floor to go out of doors. 

Soon after we were all seated, lemonade was served in 
tumblers on a tray by a black servant-girl, who stood 
below the raised floor. A tumbler was offered to me 
by the lady of the house with her right hand, and when 
I had finished she took the glass from me, putting one 
hand on the top and the other on the bottom ; and then, 
raising it to her mouth and forehead, and saying some- 
thing in Arabic which I did not understand, she returned 
it to the servant. I was next asked if I smoked, and whe- 
ther I preferred the nargileh, the cigarette, or the pipe. I 
declined them all, saying T had not yet learnt to smoke. 
The lady of the house and her daughter then lit pipes, 



THE WOMEN OF DAMASCUS. 



161 



cigarettes, and nargilehs for their guests, according to 
their several tastes ; but I found that neither the ladies 
of the house nor any of their relatives smoked at all, 
whether from choice or out of politeness to myself I will 
not pretend to say. 

The daughter, who was extremely pretty, spoke French 
with me. Her age was about sixteen, and she had been 
married two years, and had had one child, who was 
dead. Through the interpretation of this young lady, 
and also of a cousin of hers about fourteen years of age, 
who like her had learnt French from the Soeurs de 
Charite at Beyrout, we kept up an animated conversa- 
tion. They all seemed surprised at hearing I was 
married, but were much pleased with a miniature por- 
trait of my husband, which I wore in a locket. They 
looked with much curiosity at my dress, and handled 
and examined it most minutely ; but w 7 hat astonished 
them most was the way in which I wore my hair. The 
mysteries of the net and the rouleaux they could not 
sufficiently pry into. They inquired how long I had 
been married; whether I had any family; what lan- 
guages I spoke, and what countries I had visited ; and 
they were perfectly amazed at hearing I had travelled so 
far and seen so many places. They said they already 
loved me very much, and wished T would stay here a 
long time, so that I might go and see them very often. 
Most of them had never been out of Damascus, and two 
or three only as far as Beyrout. They seemed to have 

M 



162 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



little or no idea of other countries. The Turkish visi- 
tors had come from Constantinople when they were very 
young. 

After pipes came coffee, which was served to us in 
delicate china cups, placed in silver filigree stands in- 
stead of saucers ; and after partaking of this, our con- 
versation turned on the interesting subject of the men 
in these countries having more than one wife. The 
ladies seemed to treat the matter with very little feeling, 
or, I should rather say, with perfect indifference. They 
laughed, and said that when the husband had married 
them, he was quite at liberty to leave them if he did not 
like them, and marry somebody else. I was told that 
after twelve years of age a young lady is considered as 
beginning to be passee. The bridegroom is chosen and 
accepted by the father of the bride, without seeing or 
being seen by her. If the lady has no objection to the 
gentleman from the report made to her of him, they are 
married. If they happen to like one another after the 
marriage, so much the better ; if not, the husband takes 
another wife should he feel so inclined. 

When I took leave, which I was not allowed to do 
without much pressing to stay, they begged me to come 
again before quitting Damascus. They all rose : some 
gave me their hands, others saluted me by touching 
their mouths and foreheads, and I descended the plat- 
form and made my exit, having very much enjoyed my 
first visit to an Eastern harem. At the other end of 



THE WOMEN OF DAMASCUS. 



163 



the courtyard I was met by the master of the house, a 
good-looking man, dressed a la Turque, who came out and 
saluted me in French, saying how much he was honoured 
by my having gone to visit his harim. I expressed my 
great gratification and thanks, and left the house ac- 
companied by one of the young ladies who spoke French, 
who took me to visit two other families. 

I must not omit to mention that my companion, be- 
fore leaving the house, covered her face with a thin 
gauze veil, and wrapped herself up in a white linen 
cloth, covering her head ; over which she put on a black 
silk cloak, without shape, hiding her from head to foot, 
and rendering her as unknown to everybody, even her 
nearest friends and relations, as a domino at a masque- 
rade, which it very much resembles, and which I have no 
doubt is nothing but this costume carried from the Le- 
vant into Italy. Many of the women here wear coloured 
muslins over their faces, with large flaring patterns, which 
give them a most hideous appearance. Some of them 
look more like the painted faces of the clowns on the 
stage than anything else. 

I must now proceed to give an account of a visit I 
paid to one of the public baths shortly after my arrival 
in Damascus, which I did not insert in its proper place, 
in order not to break the connection of the subject I 
was then upon. 

Before leaving England I had always made up my 
mind to go to a real Turkish bath ; and on Thursday, 

M % 



164 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



the 19th of December (the second day after our arrival 
in Damascus), the public baths being on that afternoon 
appropriated to females, I went to one in the neighbour- 
hood of our hotel, accompanied by Katinka, Demetrius 
wife, as my attendant. The only sign by which the 
wo merits baths are known, is a string stretched across 
the entrance-door, with a piece or two of rag tied to it; 
and although the same bath-houses serve at different 
times for both men and women, yet, on the days on 
which this sign is suspended over the door, a man would 
sooner think of entering a private harem than of vio- 
lating this sanctuary of the women. 

I first entered a large hall, in the centre of which was 
a fountain playing, the water from which fell in several 
jets into a large circular stone basin, about ten feet 
across, looking deliciously clean and cool. The floor of 
this room was paved with squares of marble of different 
colours ; and on three sides of it were recesses contain- 
ing raised platforms, on which were ranged in a row a 
number of divans and small bedsteads, with mattresses 
and pillows, on which were reclining several ladies, some 
half dressed, some wholly so, but almost all of them 
smoking and sipping rich coffee from the tiny little 
china cups in general use in those countries. Some 
were smoking long nargilehs, and others cigarettes, in 
richly ornamented cigar-holders. Many of these ladies 
had gaily dressed little children playing about them on 
their beds, and some were talking, and others apparently 



THE WOMEN OF DAMASCUS. 



165 



sleeping. Altogether the outer hall presented a very 
gay appearance, and at the same time inspired a de- 
licious feeling of dolce far niente. In a corner of one of 
the raised platforms was a little desk, surmounted by a 
richly gilt canopy, at which sat the superintendent, who 
rose as we entered and came forward to receive us, and 
to whom my attendant paid the money for my bath. 

I was then conducted down a long stone passage, 
likewise paved with marble, along the side of which was 
a gutter, with a running stream of delightfully cool water. 
At the end of this passage we were met by a young 
woman, who superintends the dressing-room of the 
bathers. She spoke a few words with Demetrius wife 
which I did not understand, and then we were imme- 
diately shown into another hall, likewise paved with 
marble, with a stream running across the floor. In this 
room were a number of small bedsteads and divans, on 
which were placed some matting and pillows. This 
room, like the other, was filled with women and children 
dressing and undressing, with many of the former smo- 
king, and the children playing about them. Here the 
women sit upon the divans and dress themselves sitting. 
I felt rather uneasy at seeing many of the women and 
children partly naked, though they on their side did 
not seem in any way abashed at a stranger's entrance 
amongst them. 

As I wished to see all over the bath-house before 
venturing to allow myself to be undressed, I proceeded 



166 



A PILGKIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



with the waiting-woman out of this room through a 
door into another passage, down which was running a 
stream of warm water, the steam from which prevented 
me from seeing very distinctly ; but it seemed to me as 
if a number of women kept running backwards and for- 
wards down this passage to the cold room, without shoes 
or stockings, and with really nothing on them but a 
coloured handkerchief round the waist. From this we 
passed through several halls without any furniture in 
them, but all warmed by steam, and the floors covered 
with a thin slippery film of soapy water ; and here the 
women were standing about naked, many of them wear- 
ing high wooden pattens to keep their feet from the hot 
stones, and to prevent them from slipping. The heat 
was gradually getting greater as we passed through 
these rooms, until at last we entered the grand hall or 
bath-room. Here I could not stand for the slipperiness 
of the soapy water over the polished marble floor, and 
was obliged to be held up by two women, one on each side. 

The clouds of steam, joined to the smoke from all 
kinds of pipes that were being used, prevented me 
from seeing and almost from breathing. It was well it 
was so, for it required no small amount of courage on 
the part of an European lady to enter this room at all ; 
and had the atmosphere been clear, the disgustingly in- 
delicate and immodest scene that would have presented 
itself would, I do believe, have frightened me away al- 
together. The hall contained women of all ages and 



THE WOMEN OF DAMASCUS. 



167 



in all states of health, with children of all shapes and 
makes. Some few of the women — and when I dared to 
examine, I found that they were principally the youngest 
and by far the best-looking — showed some small amount 
of modesty by tying a handkerchief round their bodies. 
The ugly old hags, who would have done best had they 
covered themselves up altogether, seemed to possess not 
a particle of shame, but rather to glory in exposing them- 
selves. The hair of ail was streaming down their backs. 
Some were combing out their children's and one another's 
hair with combs, such as we use to our horses' manes ; 
others were scrubbing themselves or being scrubbed 
with soap and brushes, while lying flat on the floor; 
others sitting on stools; but most of them smoking 
while they were undergoing the operation of being 
scrubbed all over by the women of the baths employed 
for that purpose. 

It was a large circular hall beautifully paved with po- 
lished marble, the walls being of the same material, and 
it was lighted by a skylight above. In different parts 
round the room were handsomely carved marble basins, 
some round and others oval, standing about a foot from 
the ground, and being about a couple of feet wide. Each 
basin had two taps projecting over it from the wall, one 
for hot, the other for cold water. About the floor were 
many little gutters for the water to run off. The whole 
place, as I saw it occupied, gave me the idea of an im- 
mense wash-house in England, the females looking like 



168 



A PILGEIMAGE TO HAEEAN. 



a number of washerwomen, indistinctly seen, moving to 
and fro through the clouds of steam. 

I was so thoroughly shocked and horrified at seeing 
so many females together in such a state, and appa- 
rently without the least idea of shame about them, and 
thinking I was about to be subjected to a similar treat- 
ment, that I fairly took to my heels, rushing back 
through all the passages and rooms as quickly as I 
could, in spite of the efforts of the attendants to detain 
me; and, to their utter amazement, I at last got out 
of the building altogether, and ran home to our hotel, 
where I sat down quite faint from the heat and smell of 
the place I had escaped from. My husband, who was 
naturally surprised to see me back so soon, was anxious 
to know what was the matter. I told him I had not 
been able to summon courage to remain ; for the whole 
habits of the women there were not what I could con- 
form to ; that I had seen no signs of a private room, and 
I was sure I should never be able to take a bath amongst 
so many, Katinka now arrived in search of me, and 
after my husband's explaining the matter to her (for 
she did not understand a word of English, French, or 
Italian), and on her assuring him and me that I should 
have a private room and everything I required, I once 
more started off with her to take my bath. 

I passed through the outer vestibule and along the 
passage to the first hall, where I had to suffer myself to 
be undressed by the waiting-women, in the presence of 



THE WOMEN OF DAMASCUS. 



169 



all the ladies who were there before me ; both dressing 
and undressing. For this purpose I was made to sit 
upon a sort of Indian bedstead, where my clothes were 
dragged off me, and submitted to the inspection of the 
rest of the females present, who seemed greatly amused 
at my crinoline. Had I worn a hoop, it would doubt- 
less have astonished them a great deal more. I then 
managed to cover myself with a long flannel dressing- 
gown, before they could succeed in freeing me from all my 
garments, which I could plainly see they had set their 
minds on doing ; and then, in spite of all they could do 
or say to prevent it, I slipped on my bathing-clothes. 

I was now content to resign myself to my fate. First, 
I had to submit to have all my hair taken down and 
pulled about by most of the women present, although I 
must confess I could not see anything in it very different 
from theirs, which generally is very fine. In this state 
I was conducted through the various halls, till I reached 
the large bath-room a second time, where I was again 
compelled to seek the support of a couple of women to 
cross the hot, slippery and greasy floor. Having taken off 
both shoes and stockings, it was the more difficult for 
me to keep myself up. After being detained in this 
bathing-hall some few minutes by those horrid naked 
women and children, who wanted sadly to persuade me, 
and even tried to force me, to take off my bath-clothes, 
I entered a small arched doorway in one corner of the 
hall, and found myself in a little square room resembling 



170 



A PILGRAMAGE TO HARRAN. 



the one I had just left, only it was not more than about 
eight or ten feet in length each way, and with a single 
basin and its two taps for water. After entering this 
room a curtain was drawn over the entrance, and two 
hideous old women, nearly naked, brought a three-legged 
stool, and placed it near the stone basin which held the 
water ; and on this I was made to sit down. The heat 
of this room was so great that I could hardly bear it, 
and the steam so thick that I could see nothing. But 
this was only the beginning. Before I had time to tell 
where I was, I was almost suffocated by two or three 
pails of cold water being thrown over my head; after 
which came a couple of pails of scalding hot water, 
which made me positively leap up, and cry out that I 
should be stifled if they put any more over me. One of 
the old women then proceeded to soap my head and 
hair, rubbing and scratching and tearing the latter in 
the most unmerciful style, and at such a rate that it 
was almost more than I could bear ; whilst the other 
woman was serving my limbs and body much after the 
same fashion. 

After having been subjected to as much soaping and 
scratching and scrubbing, as if I had been a perfect 
sweep or a blackamoor desirous of being washed white, 
the hair-dresser commenced combing my hair straight 
down my back, regardless of entanglement or hurting 
me, while my other tire-women kept pouring buckets 
of hot water over me, and rubbing me with soap, and 



THE WOMEN OF DAMASCUS. 



171 



scrubbing me with a whisp of some sort of grass ; — and in 
this manner my whole body .was served till I became 
quite exhausted. Last of all, a number of pails of cold 
water were poured over me, my dressing-gown was 
brought to me, and I left the bath-room, and returned 
more dead than alive to the dressing-room, where I 
threw myself on a bed perfectly exhausted. Here I 
rested awhile, and watched the others dressing. 

After I was somewhat recovered, my things were all 
put on for me as I lay on the bed, and I then proceeded 
to the outer vestibule, where it is customary to remain 
for several hours, lounging on the divans, drinking 
coffee, smoking, gossiping, and talking scandal and the 
news of the day. I confess I felt I had had enough of 
it ; besides which the smoke was to me intolerable : so 
I was glad enough to leave and get back to the hotel, 
and enjoy my cup of coffee quietly and free from smoke 
in my own little room. 

Since my return to England, I have read Lady Mary 
Wortley Montagu's famous description of her visit to a 
public Turkish bath. From what is here written it will 
be seen that, though there is an interval of nearly a cen- 
tury and a half between her visit and mine, no material 
change has taken place ; the chief difference between our 
descriptions being that the one is the florid representa- 
tion of a highly accomplished and imaginative lady, 
whilst the other is the plain unvarnished narrative of an 
unpretending recorder of facts, 



172 



CHAPTER X. 

DAMASCUS — (continued). 

I now return to my regular diary. While I was away 
on the morning of the 27th of December visiting the 
harems, my husband remained at home writing letters 
for Europe, giving a brief account of our visit to Harran, 
and also superintending the making of two wooden cases, 
one of which was for a carboy containing the water from 
Rebekah's Well, intended as a present to the Queen, 
and the other was to hold one of the pitchers in which 
I had drawn the water from the well. The carboy was 
so large as to swallow up the whole contents of the two 
pitchers, except about a gallon, which he put into five 
glass bottles and packed with the pitcher, the latter being 
filled with dried apricots to keep it from breaking. 

While so employed, he received a visit from Mr. Ro- 
gers, who kindly came to say that his two kawasses were 
looking for the Druze to accompany us to Eshmiskin, 
and that his dragomans were writing letters of recom- 
mendation to the several sheikhs of the tribes, through 



DAMASCUS. 



173 



whose countries we were to pass, as likewise a general 
circular letter similar to a passport. He said that there 
was not the slightest cause for fear. There were villages 
all along the route; and such being the case, there could 
be no danger. Besides this, he said that his recommen- 
dation was sure to be respected, as he was personally ac- 
quainted with two of the sheikhs of the Beni Sakhr. My 
husband gave him, at his request, a copy of a list which 
Dr. Wetzstein had drawn up of the places along our in- 
tended route, in order that he might know our where- 
abouts, in case he should have occasion to communicate 
with us. All this was very friendly and considerate. 

Mr. Rogers informed my husband further that he had 
been speaking seriously to Mikhail about his extrava- 
gance, cautioning him to be more economical and care- 
ful. The chap has been quite spoilt by accompanying 
European tourists, and especially by having recently 
been with a party of seven noblemen and gentlemen, who 
paid him £2. 10s. per day each, making in all =£17. 10s. 
for every single day he had to provide for them, out of 
which sum he must have realized a famous profit ! 

When I came home from my visits, I had myself a 
regular quarrel with Mikhail, for wanting us to pay for 
his mules and servants during our stay in Damascus. I 
had not the patience of my husband, but got quite out 
of temper with him, which I think did him good. The 
question between us was left for settlement by the Con- 
sul to-morrow. 



174 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARE AN. 



After we had dined, Mr. Rogers's kawass came with a 
Druze, to make arrangements for escorting us to Esh- 
miskin. He was full of professions of friendship and 
offers of service, but neither we ourselves nor Mikhail, 
who took him into another room to talk the matter over 
in private, could bring him to speak of terms ; so this 
question, like that with Mikhail himself, had to be left 
for the Consul to-morrow. A consul in these countries 
has no light duty, in consequence of his being called on 
to settle and decide every question that arises between 
travellers and the natives they have to deal with. 

The Druze was very desirous that we should go to 
Deir-Ali, the residence of the sheikh there, to obtain 
from him a suitable escort of six, eight, or ten men, as 
might be required. We objected to this, as also to going 
anywhere off the sidianiyeh, or high Haj-road; when he 
proposed that the Consul should write a letter to the 
sheikh, asking him for the escort. All this was evi- 
dently for the purpose of rendering our agreement more 
difficult, and the terms of it therefore more costly. 
Though he could not be brought to name any price for 
the escort, he gave Mikhail to understand that he 
should very much like to have a gun for himself. 

Our visitor was a very fine man, and, in his white 
turban, white trousers and girdle, and black cloak, 
seemed quite clean, and altogether the most decent- 
looking person I had set my eyes on. But I saw him 
in a dark room by candle-light. Next morning, by the 



DAMASCUS. 



175 



light of day, his appearance and general effect were not 
altogether so prepossessing. 

The Druzes are a remarkable and mysterious people, 
respecting whose origin, customs, and religion very con- 
flicting opinions prevail. Outwardly they would seem to 
be Mohammedans, but among Christians they profess 
a faith nearly resembling our own. They are accused of 
worshipping in secret the image of a calf, but this they 
most emphatically repudiate. The real truth seems to 
be that they are a sort of mystics, who are all things 
to all men, outwardly professing to be guided by strict 
moral rules, but inwardly believing that the end justifies 
the means, and that the worst of a crime is its detection. 
They believe in the transmigration of souls, but always 
from one human body into another, and not from or 
into that of an animal ; and they say that 34,300,000 
years have elapsed between the creation and the time of 
Hakim-be amr-Illah, who is hereafter to appear as the 
Messiah. They are said neither to drink wine nor smoke 
tobacco, nor do they touch money. These rules are, 
however, subject to occasional exceptions, — that is to 
say, as often as they think fit to break them. In one 
respect the Druzes are, in my opinion, highly to be com- 
mended. The women among them are held in great 
honour, and are for the most part initiated into their 
mysteries, which are said to partake of the character of 
freemasonry. This is far from being the case with the 
men, who are divided into " initiated" and " ignorant." 



176 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAEEAK. 



The singular head-dress of the females, consisting of 
a sort of horn about a foot long, over which is worn a 
white cotton cloth, covering the head, has frequently 
been described by travellers in these parts. 

The Druzes of Hauran and the eastern districts of 
Syria, do not enjoy so high a reputation as those of 
Mount Lebanon and the west. There is, however, no- 
thing extraordinary in this, when it is borne in mind 
that the Druzes are by no means a single nation, but a 
community, quite as much political as religious, of tribes, 
who have become allied and converted to the faith which 
they profess in common ; but who are no more of the 
same origin than the various nations professing the 
Christian or Mohammedan religion, or the various people 
who are so frequently found united under one govern- 
ment. 

Among the inhabitants of Mount Lebanon some 
strange traditions exist, connecting them with the coun- 
tries beyond Caucasus and with China. These tradi- 
tions, childish as they may be thought, are nevertheless 
deserving of investigation. According to the ethnolo- 
gical table contained in the tenth chapter of Genesis, 
the aborigines of Aram, — that is to say, the mountainous 
country of which Mount Lebanon is the core, — were 
of Shemitish extraction. So likewise was the family of 
the patriarch Abraham, the descendant of Arphaxad, 
who emigrated from the northern country of the Chal- 
dseans (Casdim) to settle in Padan- Aram,— the plain 



DAMASCUS. 



177 



country on the eastern skirts of the highlands of Aram, 
— before he proceeded farther south-westward into the 
land of Canaan ; of which latter country the aborigines 
were Hamites, and therefore of a totally distinct stock 
from the Shemites of the north. 

In making use of these terms Shemite and Hamite, 
instead of Turanian and Semitic, as employed by ethnolo- 
gists and philologists generally, it must be explained that 
they are adopted in accordance with the system of the 
filiation of mankind and the distribution of languages 
propounded by my husband, in his ' Origines Biblicse/ 
as is explained in the Appendix to the present w ork. 

The erroneous application of the name Semitic to a 
class of nations and languages, now known to be cog- 
nate with others w T hose origin is manifestly different, 
was first made under the impression, that the language 
in which the Scriptures of the Old Testament have 
been handed down to us, possessed a peculiar sanctity, 
on account of its having been spoken by the favoured 
descendants of the patriarch Shem, and probably even 
by Adam and Eve in Paradise. It is hardly necessary 
to point out the absurdity of such a notion. If the 
Hebrew language, which is now T known to be Hamit- 
ish, were holy because the Scriptures of the Old Testa- 
ment are written in it, how much more holy ought not 
the J aphthitish Greek language to be, on account of its 
being that of the Gospel and the other writings of the 
New Testament ! 

N 



178 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAST. 



Whatever then may have been the native language of 
the patriarch Abraham when he first entered the land 
of Canaan, or that of his descendants when they subse- 
quently invaded the same country under the leadership 
of Moses and Joshua, it is certain that not many ge- 
nerations could have elapsed, before the Israelites ac- 
quired and adopted the language of the people whom 
they had conquered without extirpating or expelling 
them ; in like manner as in latter ages the Franks 
adopted the language of the Roman Gauls, and the Nor- 
mans that of the English. There is the greater reason for 
believing this to have been the case with the Israelites ; 
because, in continuing to " dwell among the Canaanites, 
Hittites, and Amorites, and Perizzites, and Hivites, and 
Jebusites," they did not, as they had been commanded 
to do, keep themselves distinct as a separate and holy 
people ; but, on the contrary, " they took their daughters 
to their sons, and gave their daughters to their sons, and 
served their gods," and so eventually became the sub- 
jects of the nations whose countries they had invaded, 
instead of continuing to be the dominant race. 

Hence it was, that, in the ages intervening between 
the time of Joshua and that of the overthrow of the 
kingdom of Israel, the Shemitish Israelites had become 
Hamites as regards their language, if not likewise in 
other respects ; so that their ancient Scriptures, in order 
to be intelligible to them, would have had to be trans- 
lated into the Canaanitish " Hebrew" then spoken among 



DAMASCUS. 



179 



them, just as at a subsequent period the Old Testament 
was translated into Greek for the use of the Jews of 
Alexandria. 

Such being the case,, it is to be questioned whether 
any attempts, like those of Bishop Colenso and other 
critics of the same school, to determine from the internal 
evidence of the Jewish version of the Old Testament, 
the date and character of the earlier portions of. the 
Hebrew Scriptures and the circumstances under which 
they were written, will be attended with any more satis- 
factory result than would ensue from a similar analysis 
of the Greek Septuagint version. If it be objected that 
we have no right to assume a process of translation to 
which the original documents make no allusion; the 
answer is, that the same argument applies, not merely 
to the Greek Septuagint version, but likewise to the 
Latin Vulgate and even to our English Authorized ver- 
sion, in none of which is any allusion made in the text 
to a process of translation. 

Before we left Damascus, having occasion for the 
services of an European tailor, we sent for an artiste who 
was a Jew, born in that city of German parents. He 
spoke German fluently, but had not the remotest idea 
of his father's native country, beyond the fact that he 
was born " somewhere in Germany/ 5 This circumstance 
has afforded my husband an apt illustration of the origin 
of the erroneous identification of the Harran of Scrip- 
ture. 

N % 



180 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN". 



For the sake of argument, he assumes the father oi 
this Damascus Jew tailor to have been a native of the 
town of Frankfort in Prussia ; and his descendants after 
several generations to return to Germany, having en- 
tirely lost the language and the remembrance of every- 
thing connected with that country, — excepting only the 
tradition that their ancestor came from Frankfort. On 
their arrival, one of their earliest inquiries would na- 
turally be after the residence of their forefathers ; and 
they would doubtless be informed that Frankfort is a 
large and celebrated free-city, where great market-fairs 
are held, at w 7 hich traders congregate from all parts of 
the globe, and where numerous Jews reside, amongst 
whom the Rothschild family has acquired a cosmopo- 
litan reputation ; and they would be told about the 
Juden-gasse, the synagogue of their nation, and various 
other matters likely to interest them most deeply. 
Would it be surprising if these descendants of the Da- 
mascus Jew were, with justifiable feelings of pride, to 
declare themselves to be sprung from this famous city 
of Frankfort ? And would it not even be natural that 
they should reject any suggestion that the true place of 
their origin was Frankfort on the Oder, " in Prussia," — 
to their minds a paltry town, whose inhabitants are only 
about twice as many in number, all together, as the 
Jews alone who are resident at Frankfort on the Maine ? 

Just in the same manner, the Jews of the Captivity, 
who could not have failed to hear in Babylon and else- 



DAMASCUS. 



181 



where of the famous city of Harran, in Mesopotamia, 
between Euphrates and Tigris, the two rivers of Assyria, 
would not unreasonably have regarded that city as the 
residence of the fathers of their nation • whilst the com- 
paratively insignificant town of Harran, in the Ghutha 
of Damascus, between Abana and Pharpar, the two 
rivers of Aram ("Aram Naharaim"), would probably 
have been altogether unknown to them, or if known, 
would only have been«passed over with contempt. 

It may be not entirely immaterial to remark, that the 
distance between the two Frankforts and that between 
the two Harrans, are about equal. 

Saturday, December 28th. — This morning we went 
with our dragoman to the Consulate, to refer the ques- 
tion between us to the decision of Mr. Rogers. We 
found the Druze sheikh already there, but thought it 
better to let him wait till Mikhail and my husband had 
settled their little difference. He wanted to charge us 
for his animals during the three days he had been in 
Damascus, since his return from Beyrout. This we ob- 
jected to as unreasonable, because the delay was caused 
by his not being ready to start any more than ourselves. 
Tn his desire that our contract should commence at the 
earliest moment, he had hurried back from Beyrout, 
before his tents for our further journey were ready for use, 
and he and his people had since been at work on them 
at the hotel. After a good deal of discussion, it was 
arranged that we should pay him ninety piastres for one 



182 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAEEAK. 



day, in full of all demands. Having squeezed this out 
of us, which was in fact more than he was really entitled 
to, he was profuse in his excuses and assurances of his 
devotedness to our service, his regard for our interest, 
and a deal more, which I suppose he considered an 
ample equivalent for our money. 

It was next the Druse's turn. On being shown in 9 
he was not less profuse in his assurances than Mikhail 
himself; only his object was to point out to us the 
clangers of the road, the necessity for a considerable 
escort, the inconveniences they would sustain at this 
season of the year, the great care they would take of 
our lives and property, and so forth. We plainly under- 
stood what all this meant — a large bakhshish ; still Mr. 
Rogers could not, any more than ourselves last night, 
bring the gentleman to name a price for his services. 
At length, at Mr. Rogers's suggestion, our dragoman 
left the room with the Druze, with a view to ascertain 
quietly what he really wanted. The Bruzes are not like 
the Beduins in these matters. They have some degree 
of shame, and do not like to appear to be bargaining; 
though this does not prevent them from making the best 
terms possible. 

Mikhail soon returned, and told us that the sheikh 
said he should require ten mounted men at 200 piastres 
each, being 2000 piastres ; 300 piastres more for their 
horses' food on their return journey, and a dress of the 
value of about 200 piastres for another sheikh ; making 



DAMASCUS. 



183 



2500 piastres in all, or more than £20 sterling. He did 
at first talk of 300 piastres for each horseman, but was 
induced by Mikhail to content himself with 200. Of 
course this did not include the present to himself, which, 
as he had suggested last night, might be a gun, or per- 
haps a brace of revolvers, or some such small trifle. This 
seemed to the Consul, not less than to ourselves, to be 
nothing better than an attempt at extortion ; and as we 
could not get him to lower his demands, we sent him 
away. Mr. Rogers told us that some Druzes were going 
to call on him that afternoon from the neighbouring 
village of Jermana, and when they came he would bring 
them down to us ; meanwhile, we were to go on arran- 
ging everything for our departure to-morrow. 

Before leaving, my husband made an official declara- 
tion respecting the water drawn by me from Rebekah's 
Well, which the Consul certified ; and then, enclosing the 
declaration and certificate with my husband's letter to 
the Queen in an envelope, he attached this to the neck 
of the carboy, and passing the ends of the tape over the 
cork, sealed the mouth of the vessel with his consular 
seal. The case containing the carboy and letter was 
then well packed with straw and nailed down, and left 
in Mr. Rogers's charge to be sent down to Mr. Heald 
at Beyrout, for transmission to England. 

It is here the proper place to relate what happened 
to this vessel of water addressed to the Queen. When it 
arrived in England, our revered Sovereign and the whole 



184 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



nation were plunged in the deepest grief for the loss of 
the good Prince Consort. The case when landed was 
forwarded to Windsor Castle, where it appears to have 
arrived in safety, except that (as far as we could under- 
stand the matter on inquiry) the letter so carefully 
attached to the neck of the carboy by Mr. Consul 
Rogers was unaccountably missing; and the officials, 
not knowing whence the package came, and finding after 
a time that the vessel contained " water in a state of 
decomposition," emptied it out. It was a source of 
great mortification to us, that this should have been the 
result of all our trouble and care. For some time after 
our return to England, having learnt that the water had 
reached the Palace in safety, we refrained from making 
inquiries about it, out of respect for Her Majesty's feel- 
ings. Notwithstanding our great disappointment, it is at 
all events a gratification to us to have preserved a small 
quantity of the water, both for the purpose of having it 
analysed, and also keeping it as a memorial of our visit 
to Rebekah's Well. 

Mr. Rogers then gave my husband the letters which 
he had been so good as to have written to the following 
Arab sheikhs :— (1.) The Sheikh of the Sheikhs of Esh- 
miskin (that is to say, the Sherrif Ahmed-el- Hariri, ge- 
nerally known as Ahmed-et-Turk) ; (2.) Sheikh Abd- 
allah of Irbid, at Hosn ; (3.) Sheikh Fendi el Faiz, of 
the Beni Sakhr Arabs; (4.) Sheikh Shlash, and (5,) 
Sheikh Khoreishan, of the same tribe, there being three 



DAMASCUS. 



185 



sub-tribes; and (6.) Sheikh Diab ibn Freikh, of Ke- 
frenji. 

It was considered, and with good reason, that with 
these letters, and, in addition, a general letter in the 
nature of a passport, we could hardly meet with any 
mishap, or that if we did we should not be long in find- 
ing a protector. As it marvellously turned out, we had 
no occasion to make use of any of these letters, except 
the one to Ahmed-et-Turk. 

While my husband was with Mr. Rogers, the post 
arrived from Beyrout with a letter from Mr. Heald, in- 
forming us he had sent on the box of instruments, and 
also forwarding our letters from home, with a copy of the 
c Athenaeum 9 of November the 26th, which contained a 
letter written by my husband before our departure from 
England, announcing our intended visit to Harran and its 
object. At the same time he was informed that the box 
had arrived at the custom-house here, and the Consul 
immediately sent down to have it cleared and brought 
to our hotel. At half-past four, however, he sent to 
say that the custom-house officers would not pass the 
box without seeing its contents. We at once gave the 
key to Mr. Rogers's messenger, but it was too late ; the 
gate was shut, and to-morrow being Sunday and the 
custom-house officers being Christians, it was not to be 
got at till Monday morning. This was most vexatious, 
but there was no help for it. Allah kerim ! as they 
say here; or, as we had long before learnt in Italy, 
Pazienza! 



186 



A PILGEIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



During my husband's absence I had been all day hard 
at work packing and preparing for our journey, which 
I naturally concluded would commence some time to- 
morrow ; and, as it was desirable to travel as light as 
possible, I managed to do away with two of our trunks, 
which, with my gun-case, were to be sent down to Bey- 
rout and forwarded to Alexandria. Of course Mikhail 
w r as the chief or rather the sole gainer by this, as we 
had contracted to pay him for "a mule and a half to 
carry our extra luggage. 

About sunset a Druze from Jermana, Sheikh Hamzeh 
by name, came with a letter from the Consul. He told 
us there was no danger ; but that the road from Kisweh 
was rather bad just beyond Khan-Denun, in consequence 
of the late heavy rains, and he did not know whether 
we should be able to pass. This was evidently intended 
to induce us to go round by Deir-Ali ; but we were not 
to be moved from the route we had decided on. We 
now came to speak about terms; when, after many 
compliments and some fencing with the question, he 
offered to take us to Eshmiskin with five men, at the 
rate of £3 per man. On our objecting to this, as being 
little (if anything) better than the proposal made by the 
Druze yesterday, Mikhail left the room with Sheikh 
Hamzeh, and, after a good deal of discussion, came back 
to say that he consented to take £10 for the job ; but 
even this we could not bring ourselves to agree to. For, 
if such was the price we were to pay for an escort for 



DAMASCUS. 



187 



two days, while we were at Damascus, under the protec- 
tion of our Consul, and able to make our own terms ; 
what might we not have to expect when we should be 
alone on the road, and left to the tender mercies of our 
dragoman, who naturally sympathizes with his country- 
men, and more than probably has a good percentage on 
all that they extract from the pockets of us European 
travellers ? It was only by strenuously opposing at the 
outset all such attempts at imposition, that we might 
hope to get through our journey on anything like rea- 
sonable terms. We therefore still remained without any 
arrangement for an escort on the morrow T . 

Sunday, December 29th. — Our starting to-day was 
out of the question. I had been very unwell all night, 
and in the morning found myself unable to get up. I 
suppose that the packing of yesterday had overfatigued 
me : I had been, however, anything but well before. In 
fact, this lengthened stay at Damascus was evidently 
affecting my general health, and I longed above all 
things to get away. The time of year and the bad 
weather were much against us, and it might have 
seemed well to delay our journey till the fine season; 
though, had we done so, the course of events, political 
and otherwise, has shown us that the journey would 
never have been performed at all. Of course Mikhail 
had prepared everything for starting this morning, and 
my husband allowed mid-day to pass, before he posi- 
tively let him know we were not going. This postpone- 



188 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



ment was all for the best, as, though the morning was 
beautiful and bright, at twelve o'clock it began raining 
hard and so continued all day long. 

About eleven o'clock, Mr. Rogers, Dr. Wetzstein, and 
Sheikh Hamzeh of Jermana assembled at our hotel. The 
latter persisted in his demand, notwithstanding all their 
arguments and persuasions. My husband was equally 
firm. 

Dr. Wetzstein, who, from his long residence in Da- 
mascus and his knowledge of the country through which 
we were about to pass, was our chief counsellor, pro- 
posed all sorts of plans to meet the emergency. He 
thought that Abdallah Agha, a Kurd in command of 
the detachment of Turkish soldiers at Kisweh, would 
be able to carry us through; but Mr. Rogers said he 
had just heard of that officer's having taken flight. 
He had bound himself under a heavy penalty to take 
Bghitan, the chief of the Sulut, within a certain pe- 
riod. This time had run out, and Bghitan was still at 
large; and the Government stupidly wished to enforce 
the bond so stupidly given : so Abdallah Agha had left 
his command and was off, for which no one could blame 
him. 

After much deliberation it was finally settled that the 
English Consul should apply to Emin Pasha, the Gover- 
nor of Damascus, for an escort of soldiers from the garri- 
son, for which we should have to pay a mejideh to each 
man and a sovereign to their commander. We should 



DAMASCUS. 



189 



have preferred a Druze escort, were they not so exor- 
bitant in their demands. Dr. Wetzstein says that the 
English have made kings of these people, and that had 
the French remained here and the heads of five hun- 
dred Druzes been cut off, the rest would have been more 
amenable to reason. He assures us that this Sheikh 
Hamzeh has often gone this very same road for him for 
fifty piastres, and been thankful. 

In the afternoon my husband walked to the British 
Consulate, where he again met Dr. Wetzstein. They 
had made an application to Emin Pasha and were await- 
ing his reply, which came whilst he was there. His Ex- 
cellency sent an order to Yus-Bashi Ahmed Agha Bei- 
rakdar (the centurion and standard-bearer Ahmed Agha), 
at Kisweh, to furnish us w 7 ith an escort to Eshmiskin. 
The order was couched in very strong language, and 
both Consuls were highly pleased with it. At the same 
time they told my husband, that, if at Kisweh we should 
happen to fall in with a Sulti Arab, he was by all means 
to take him, and dispense with the letter to Ahmed 
Agha. The Sulut are divided into two subtribes, of 
which the respective chiefs are Bghitan and Khalif Abu 
Suleiman. The former are at war and the latter at 
peace with the Turkish Government. Should we be 
accompanied by one of the latter (and we are not likely 
to meet with one of the former in the villages), we should 
be safer than with any one else, as the Sulut are the 
only people we had to fear. On reaching Eshmiskin 



190 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



and placing ourselves under the protection of Ahmed 
et-Turk, we should be out of all further danger. 

After once more arranging with Mr. Rogers as to the 
dispatch of our baggage and the carboy of water to the 
coast, the forwarding of letters, etc., and again going 
over with Dr. Wetzstein the particulars of our intended 
route ; my husband took final leave of his good friends, 
whom he could not sufficiently thank for all their at- 
tention and care in providing for our safety and the 
success of our somewhat perilous enterprise, — as, after 
all said and done, they could not but consider it to 
be. After his return home my husband got Mikhail to 
change forty napoleons into mejidehs (worth about three 
shillings and sixpence each) and half-mejidehs. They 
are weighty, it is true, but there is no small change to 
be had on the road, and a napoleon might sometimes 
have to do duty, where a mejideh or two would have 
served the purpose just as well. Besides, the very sight 
of gold is fascinating. 



191 



CHAPTER XL 

FROM DAMASCUS TO HARRAN, 

Monday, December 30th. — It was a most lovely morn- 
ing, putting us in high spirits for our journey. The 
mules were at the door early, and the packing and load- 
ing went on with all deliberate speed. As soon as the 
custom-house was open, my husband went for his box 
of instruments, but was kept there an hour for the chief 
officer, without whose presence it could not be cleared. 
"When at length he came, the case was merely opened 
and closed again, without any examination of its con- 
tents. This was the first instance of the effects of an 
English traveller being subjected to this formality, and 
our Consul warmly resented what appeared to him to be 
an encroachment on our privileges, and said he intended 
to make a strong representation to the Government on 
the subject, and my husband authorized him to put in a 
claim on his behalf for damages for one day's detention. 
What the result of this remonstrance was we have never 
heard. It certainly does seem strange that a box, which 



192 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAEEAN. 



had been allowed to pass the custom-house at Beyrout 
on its arrival from abroad,, should have been required to 
be opened at the inland custom-house of Damascus. 

On examining the contents of the box at the hotel, 
my husband was vexed beyond measure at finding the 
instruments almost as badly packed as they were when 
they had first been sent home, which was the cause of 
their being returned, and so left behind when we quitted 
England. In particular, the index of the aneroid ba- 
rometer would not work, and the glass had to be taken 
off to loosen it, by which means it got shifted, and my 
husband was obliged at the last moment to send off to 
Mr. Rogers, to inquire where the index of his aneroid at 
the consulate stood at half-past nine o'clock, in order 
that he might compare it with his own at that hour, and 
and thus ascertain the error of his instrument. He had 
also to boil his thermometers, to ascertain the elevation 
of Damascus above the sea. As all this was left till the 
last moment, while the mules were standing at the door 
loaded and waiting only for this box to be sent off, it 
could not but be done in the greatest hurry and confu- 
sion : consequently the result was hardly likely to be sa- 
tisfactory. He made, however, the height of Damascus 
above the sea to be 2130 feet, which, I believe, is not 
very far from the true elevation. 

At length by half-past ten the mules were dispatched 
for Harran. We then breakfasted and finished our ar- 
rangements, and by twelve o'clock we were ourselves. 



FROM DAMASCUS TO HAEEAN. 



193 



en route. During our stay in Damascus the weather 
had been so bad, and we ourselves so much occupied, 
that we had not much time to devote to sight-seeing. 
We had not, however, been quite negligent in this re- 
spect; and this morning, on our way out of the city, 
we went to visit two remarkable objects which we had 
not yet seen. 

The first was the Great Mosque, which, next to the 
Holy Places of Mecca and Medina and the Mosque of 
Omar at Jerusalem, is held most sacred by the Moham- 
medans. Before the conquest of Damascus by the Mos- 
lems, this mosque was a Christian church dedicated to 
St. John the Baptist, whose head is said to have been 
placed under the foundation-stone, and whose grave is 
still shown within the mosque. As however the Baptist 
was beheaded at Machserus, a fortress on the east side 
of Jordan, near the north end of the Dead Sea, and we 
read that " his disciples came and took up the body and 
buried it, and went and told Jesus and as the martyr's 
head was given by Herod to Herodias's daughter, " and 
she brought it to her mother;" it is not very clear how 
the two should be found together at Damascus. Be- 
sides, it is generally understood by those who believe in 
such things, that the remains of St. John the Baptist 
are preserved to this day, together with the Sacro Ca- 
tinOy in the Cathedral of Genoa. But when did an in- 
consistency, or even an impossibility, ever stand in the 
way of a tradition ? 

o 



194 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAERAN. 



Entering one of the shops in the neighbouring bazar,, 
we mounted on the roof, where we obtained a good view 
of the great gate., now walled up : a most magnificent 
work of art, deserving of far more than the hurried sight 
we could only afford time to take of it. The Moham- 
medans believe that the Messiah is to descend from 
heaven upon the eastern minaret of this mosque, which 
is accordingly called the Minaret of Jesus. We could 
not look into the yard of the mosque from above, on ac- 
count of a wall which has been built purposely to ob- 
struct the view 5 but we should probably not have seen 
much more than we had already seen from the principal 
entrance. 

"We next went to see the large plane-tree just outside 
the iron-bazar, which, after all we had read of it, disap- 
pointed us much. The boll of the tree is very large, it 
is true— nearly 40 feet in circumference, it is said ; but 
at the height of a few feet, where the proper stem begins, 
I do not think it is at all bigger than our Bekesbourne 
walnut ; and the extent of the arms is decidedly much 
less. 

Having thus finished our sight-seeing, we proceeded 
eastward, following the course of the Barada to Bab- 
Tuma, or Thomas's Gate, by which we left the city. 
Shortly after passing the gate, we crossed the Barada, 
and went a short distance on the high-road to Aleppo 
and Palmyra, when we turned eastward, and continued 
along the left bank of the river. Just outside the city 



FROM DAMASCUS TO HARRAN. 



195 



we met Sheikh Mijwel, close to the house of his wife, 
Mrs. Digby. He stopped to speak with Mikhail, and 
by him was introduced to my husband, with whom he 
shook hands. As he passed me, he saluted me with 
much respect, but without speaking. I was much sur- 
prised at finding him quite a different person from what 
I had imagined him to be from his portrait in Miss 
Beaufort's c Egyptian Shrines and Syrian Sepulchres/ 
He there appears to be a fine, tall, handsome man, in 
the prime of life, and magnificently dressed. We found 
I lira to be much older-looking, short, small-featured, and 
insignificant in appearance and dress, much like the rest 
of the people, and not much cleaner. Mikhail, who had 
known him when he was in very low circumstances, 
spoke of him in anything but a complimentary manner. 

After proceeding some distance along the north side 
of the Barada, we found that we had gone too far to the 
north, Mikhail having taken on himself to follow the ad- 
vice of some ignorant peasants, instead of doing as we 
told him. The poor man was sadly put out, it being 
the first time he had ever travelled by a strange road 
without a regular guide ; and he could not at all under- 
stand how we should know the way better than himself, 
especially as we had made a point of choosing a different 
road from either of those we had taken in going to and 
coming from Harran on the previous occasion. It was 
not without some words with Mikhail that we got him 
to understand that we had a special object in what we 

o % 



196 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRA¥, 



did, and were not like the ordinary run of travellers, 
who come merely to " do" the country, and are there- 
fore content to place themselves in the hands of their 
dragoman and ' Murray/ 

We crossed the river where it forms several streams, 
at a village called Jisrein, or Two Bridges. Here we 
saw immense quantities of hemp steeping in the water, 
and imagine the river to have been artificially divided 
for that purpose. After passing the Barada, we con- 
tinued by a very bad road on the southern side of the 
river. 

It was nearly dark when we approached Harran, and 
we sent Mikhail on before us to prepare for our recep- 
tion. Soon after he had left, while my husband and 
myself were riding slowly along through the vineyards 
near the village, we were overtaken by two horsemen, 
who approached at a rapid pace. They saluted us, when 
my husband addressed them and they replied, in the 
words of Jacob and the shepherds, cc My brethren, whence 
be ye? and they said, Of Harran are we." This answer, 
striking as it was at such a place, did not however give 
the required information. We wished to know from what 
place they were then coming ; and on my husband's put- 
ting this question to them, they returned an answer which 
at that late hour was yet more startling than the first — 
"From Duma!" We could scarcely refrain from ex- 
claiming, " Watchman, what of the night ? Watchman, 
what of the night ?" 



FROM DAMASCUS TO FARRAN. 



197 



We entered into Harran with our companions, who 
were inhabitants of the village, returning from a town 
distant about five miles to the north-east of Damascus, 
which bears the same name as the place mentioned by the 
prophet Isaiah in conjunction with Tema. This redu- 
plication of name is frequent in these countries. Besides 
the Harran of the patriarchs, there is a place of the same 
name in the Leja, mentioned by Burckhardt. No doubt 
a second Tema will be found near this second Duma — 
the Tema, in fact, of the Book of Job. 

We did not reach Harran till past six o'clock, and we 
went straight to the menzul or travellers' house, where 
we found our lodging very different from what it had been 
on the former occasion, Mikhail having turned all the 
people out and taken exclusive possession. The sheikh 
and the principal villagers were sitting round the entrance 
of the courtyard of the menzul waiting to receive us, and 
they all seemed delighted to see us again, calling out to 
me ya Sitt, and kissing my hands and my clothes to an 
alarming extent. There was much more water about 
the village than on our former visit, and the place must 
at this season be dreadfully unhealthy. Even the inside 
of the house we were in was miserably cold and damp, 
without the means of making a good fire; for there is no 
wood here, and the only fuel used is dried cattle-dung. 
Fortunately we had brought plenty of charcoal wdth us, 
or I do not know w r hat we should have done even for 
cooking. 



198 



A PTLGK IMAGE TO HAEEAK. 



Tuesday, December 31st. — It rained hard all last night 
and during the early part of the mornings but cleared up 
about eleven o* clock, when T immediately set to work to 
take a photograph of the village. The preparations oc- 
cupied much more time than on ordinary occasions, as a 
suitable place for a dark room had first to be found and 
got ready ; and, even as it was, it was a "very long way 
off from the spot from which I had to take the view. 

When all was ready, the sky became overcast, so that 
it was with difficulty I managed to take two views of the 
town. , The people crowding about me were excessively 
annoying ; but after a while they were got into pretty 
good order. Just as I was going to take my second 
view, my husband wanted to place a girl of the village 
with Mikhail as Kebekah and Eliezer; but he was so 
long in getting them into position, that I was forced to 
remove the shades, and so he was taken too. His ap- 
pearance in the view reminded him, he said, of the bur- 
lesque of c I/Assedio di Troja, eon Pulcinella guardiano 
del eavallo trojano/ as he had seen it represented at the 
theatre of San Carlino at Naples many years ago. The 
camera and the dark room being so far apart, it was very 
fatiguing for me to have to run backwards and forwards 
between them with the plates, especially as the muddy 
ground w r as so slippery that I was in danger of falling at 
every step. Before two o'clock it began to rain, and of 
course I had to give up my work and return to the 
house. 



FROM DAMASCUS TO HARRAN. 



199 



Later in the afternoon it again cleared up sufficiently 
to allow us to visit the columns and the well, for the pur- 
pose of verifying our previous measurements and obser- 
vations. We also re-examined the inscription, but could 
make nothing more of it than before. On speaking to 
the sheikh and some of the principal inhabitants about 
our taking away the piece of column, they said that it 
belonged to the mosque, and that the consent of the 
mullah, or priest of the village, would be requisite. 
They talked of our paying four pounds for it. We told 
them we did not want it for ourselves, but for the British 
nation ; and that if they would not part with it on rea- 
sonable terms, we should get the Consul to apply for it 
to the Governor of Damascus, w T ho would order it to be 
given up for nothing. Some of the persons present, and 
especially one from Damascus, who happened to be 
there, said the inscription was kufir (infidel) , and ought 
not to be in the holy place. 

While Mikhail went to fetch the mullah, my husband 
and I walked about the town, and then returned home, 
where shortly afterwards Mikhail came to tell us that 
the mullah, the sheikh, and the principal villagers, had 
assembled in the mosque-yard in solemn conclave, and 
had come to the resolution that for one pound sterling 
for a prayer-carpet for the mosque, five rotols of oil for 
the lamps, and about 100 piastres more in cash, we might 
have the inscription. This was getting near the right 
price, but was still too much. It became, however, useless 



200 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HARRAN. 



to carry the negotiation further, as there was no mason 
to cut the column in two, so as to render the inscription 
portable ; and besides, we could hardly have had it re- 
moved before quitting Harran. "We therefore decided on 
leaving the matter in the hands of Mr. Rogers, to whom 
my husband wrote on the subject on his arrival at Jerusa- 
lem. He has since learnt from Dean Stanley that Mr.. 
Robson, who visited Harran at his request and copied the 
inscription, as is already explained in a previous chap- 
ter (page 124), did not consider it worth the removal. 

The boiling-point of water shows Harran to be 1740 
feet above the sea, which makes the fall between Damas- 
cus and this place to be nearly 400 feet. This would 
make the elevation of the neighbouring lakes to be 
about 1700 feet above the ocean ; which must conse- 
quently be regarded as the minimum elevation of the 
plateau of the great Syrian Desert, before it begins to 
fall towards the Euphrates. 

East of the lakes is a very remarkable country, almost 
unknown, described in Murray's 'Handbook' as "a group 
of conical hills called the Tellul/' and consisting in fact 
of an immense field of lava, beset with volcanic cones, 
some of which rise to the height of 1800 feet above the 
plain. The whole of this tract of country is uninhabit- 
able and even impassable. But between it and the 
lakes is an open passage, of some twelve or fifteen miles 
in width, bearing the significant appellation of Derb-el- 
Ghazawat — the Hoad of Razzies or Marauding Expe- 



FROM DAMASCUS TO HAEEAN. 



201 



ditions, — along which scarcely a clay passes without the 
passage, either in the one direction or the other, of 
some party of Arabs bent on plunder. It was by this 
Robbers' Road that the Sabeans from the south and the 
Chaldeans from the north entered into the Land of Uz, 
and fell upon the oxen and asses and the camels of the 
patriarch J ob, and carried them away ; and it is by the 
same road at the present day that the f Anezeh and other 
Arab tribes enter the Merj, and levy contributions on 
the outlying villages, and often threaten the Ghutha or 
even the City of Damascus itself. It was not so (they 
say) in the time of Ibrahim Pasha, whose loss is la- 
mented by the people here, and indeed throughout 
Syria. He was a severe but a just prince, and every 
one knew that, under his iron rule, any act of oppression 
was sure to be severely punished. 

Wednesday, January 1st, 1862. — We closed the past 
year at Harran, thankful that we should have so far 
succeeded in the object of our journey. With the new 
year we had to commence the more difficult portion of 
our expedition — our return home by an almost unknown 
road, through a country in great part previously un- 
visited by Europeans. Had the day been fine, we pur- 
posed remaining at Harran, to enable me to take some 
more photographs ; but, on getting up this morning, 
we found it so overcast and threatening, that we saw it 
would be useless to remain with that object, and we 
therefore decided on at once departing. 



202 



A PILGRIMAGE TO HAERAN. 



When all was ready for our journey and we were 
about to start, the sheikh's son came to say that, when 
w r e were last here, my husband had promised his father 
a cloak, and he now asked for it. At this demand we 
were perfectly amazed. We had remunerated the sheikh 
and his people in a very liberal way, as we considered, 
and we had never promised the sheikh a cloak or any- 
thing else. This we told the man, and when our 
dragoman came up, w r e had the matter explained to him 
more fully; but he assured us that all the money they 
had received from us was four-and -twenty piastres, 
which had been given to the sheikh by Ahmed, the 
British Consul's kawass, in our name, with the promise 
that, when we returned here again from Damascus in a 
few days, we would bring him a cloak. It w T as now our 
turn to explain that we had given Ahmed one hundred 
and twenty piastres, for fodder for our six horses and 
mules (being at the rates of twenty piastres each), to 
which we had added a five-franc piece (about twenty- 
seven piastres) as a bakhshish for the sheikh. With this 
money he had approached the sheikh, as if to give it 
to him, and had then returned to us, saying that the 
sheikh was not satisfied ; in consequence of which we 
had added a mejideh, which last piece of money alone 
the rascal appears to have given to the poor people, 
putting all the rest into his own pocket. 

Ahmed had been so many years attached to the Bri- 
tish Consulate, and bore so high a character, that we 



FROM DAMASCUS TO HAEEAN. 



203 



had not the slightest suspicion of his being capable of 
such roguery ; and in fact we could not be sure whether 
this might not be an attempt, on the part of the good 
folks of Harran, to impose upon us before we took our 
final departure. All that we could do therefore under 
the circumstances was, to assure them that we w r ould 
have the matter inquired into by the Consul ; and that, 
if the fact were as stated, the promise given in my hus- 
band's name should be kept, and the sheikh should have 
his cloak. All this we wrote to the Consul from Jeru- 
salem, only he had left Damascus before our letter 
reached him. But having by good fortune fallen in 
with him at Alexandria, on his way to England, we 
spoke to him on the subject ; when he told us that 
before he left his post he had found out Ahmed's real 
character and had dismissed him, and that when he 
returned from England he would see into the matter. 
This incident only shows how completely European 
travellers are at the mercy of their guides and inter- 
preters, and how likely it is that, through the mis- 
conduct of the latter, they often get a character which 
they do not by any means deserve. 

I may here add that Mr. Eogers, who has again been 
in England during the present year, informs us that both 
Ahmed em-Mansiir and the sheikh of Harran have re- 
cently lost their lives in some local disturbances ; so 
that retribution is no longer in the hands of mortal 
man. 



204 



CHAPTER XII. 

FKOM HAKKAN TO SANAMEIN. 

Leaving Harran, we went to Kufren, by the way we 
had first come to Harran in company with Dr. Wetz- 
stein, and thence proceeded to Ghassule by a most 
wretched road, the plain being almost entirely under 
water. The country seems, however, to be generally 
well cultivated, and the people rich and prosperous, they 
being under the special protection of Mohammed eri- 
Duhhi. As this village and the neighbouring one of 
Sekka belong to Dr. Wetzstein, we can now understand 
the motive for his great friendship with that powerful 
chief, to whom of course he pays blackmail, receiving 
his protection in return. This relation constitutes what 
is called khuweh, or brotherhood. 

We arrived at Ghassule about twelve o'clock, and 
went straight to the house of Sheikh Mahmud, to whom 
we presented a letter from Dr. Wetzstein, which our good 
friend had been so thoughtful as to send to us just as 
we were leaving Damascus. Mahmud was delighted at 



FROM HART? AN TO SANAMEIN. 



205 



seeing us again, and, with Syrian hospitality, at once 
began preparing for our dinner; bringing rugs and 
cushions for us to repose on in the meanwhile, making 
up a good fire, and in fact doing everything for our 
comfort during the stay which he took for granted we 
were going to make with him. He was exceedingly dis- 
appointed and almost angry when he saw our dragoman, 
in the sulky English fashion, setting out our lunch on 
some large stones in the courtyard, and we told him 
we could not wait, as w r e had to reach Kisweh before 
night. 

While our lunch was preparing, I profited by the time 
to get out a dry plate, and take a photograph of the 
place, having promised Dr. Wetzstein that I would do 
my best to procure him a view of whichever of his two 
villages we might pass through. Sekka we left about a 
mile to the right, or I should have preferred taking that 
place, as being larger and more picturesque. I could 
not here take the village itself, there being no conve- 
nient position for doing so ; but I took what was pro- 
bably more interesting — a view of some ancient columns 
and arches, apparently the remains of an extensive build- 
ing. Ghassule was in former times a fortified military 
station, for the protection of Damascus and its neigh- 
bourhood from the predatory incursions of the nomadic 
occupiers of the desert regions towards the east and south. 
Of course all the inhabitants ran out to look at me and 
what I was doing, and it was not without difficulty that 



206 



Jacob's flight. 



they could be prevented from standing right in front of 
the camera and impeding the view. At length my hus- 
band managed to drive or coax them back towards the 
building, where they stood while I took them all in a 
mass. 

After we had finished our lunch out of doors,, we went 
into the sheikh's house and had coffee, which he had 
been preparing in the meanwhile, and which he served 
to us himself in the most approved fashion. He first 
poured some coffee into the cup, drank a little of it, 
then filled it up and presented it to me ; and when I 
had finished drinking, he took the cup from me, and 
himself drank out the dregs. His horse was then 
brought to the door, — a splendid animal, decked out 
with a fine scarlet saddle-cloth, fringed and tasselled 
almost down to the ground, — which he mounted for the 
purpose of accompanying us to Nejha, the next village 
on our route. 

During our ride, whenever we came to a nice solid 
piece of ground, Sheikh Mahmud was most anxious to 
show off his horse and his horsemanship, galloping 
round us and challenging me to race with him. This I 
very willingly did ; and as the mare I rode was as fleet 
a little animal as one could well wish to mount, I had 
the satisfaction of twice beating him hollow. When we 
were some distance in advance of my husband, I ex- 
pressed my desire to return ; but Mahmud wanted me 
to go on, telling me to come on and leave the baker — as 



FKOM HARKAN TO SANAMEIN. 



207 



I understood him to say, — pointing to my husband. I 
could not at all make out what he could possibly mean 
by "the baker and when my husband joined us, I in- 
quired. It turned out that our dragoman had thought 
fit to change my husband's designation, and instead of 
calling him Khawaja, as European travellers are usually 
styled, he had given him the title of Bek, as the Turkish 
Beg or Bey is pronounced in Syria ; so that, curiously 
enough, he had now become Beke-Bek. This then was 
Sheikh Mahmud's " baker." 

As for Mikhail himself, he had dropped his Christian 
name, and called himself Abu Salim — the Father of 3a- 
lim — such being his son's name. His doing so was 
quite in accordance with a custom very prevalent in this 
country among Christians as well as Mohammedans, 
which conveniently leaves the bearer's religion in doubt. 
He told us that he would never forswear Jesus ; but at 
the same time we saw he did all in his power, when 
among Mohammedans, to let them believe him to be 
one of them. I began to suspect Master Mikhail — or 
Abu Salim, as we must now call him — to be a regular 
coward, and subsequent events did not give me reason 
to change my opinion. Our going out of the beaten 
track did not suit him at all, and he kept constantly 
asking questions of the people about where we were 
going and how we were to go, having evidently no con- 
fidence in us. But he must be pardoned this. From 
his childhood he has been travelling over roads which 



208 Jacob's flight. 

lie has learnt by heart ; and on them, no doubt, he is a 
very fair cicerone, and perhaps even above the average 
of dragomans. But the moment he is brought into a 
country he does not know, he is as ignorant as the 
commonest peasant. 

Our party was now larger than it had been before. 
We were four riders, with three muleteers, having 
charge of seven mules and donkeys laden with our per- 
sonal baggage, beds, canteen, cooking utensils, tents, 
food for ourselves and Beduin escort, and I know not 
what besides. 

Our course, which was to the south-east, gave us a 
fine view of Jebel esh-Sheikh; and as the sky was clear, 
we saw distinctly the " snow on Hermon," at times as 
plainly as we had seen it on Mont Blanc. But the 
weather was very changeable, and not long after leaving 
Ghassule we had a sharp hailstorm, which however was 
fortunately but of short duration. Near Kharantu we 
passed on our right a circular hill, called Tell Abayezid, 
with a square building on the summit, which Sheikh 
Mali mud told us was erected by Sultan Bayazid; and 
he had some story to relate about a damsel having been 
shut up there, which we could not exactly comprehend. 
When we got to Nejha, Mali mud inquired of the sheikh 
of the place whether there were any Sulut Arabs there ; 
and finding none, he asked for a guide to take us on to 
Kisweh- A black man was immediately furnished, in 
consideration of ten piastres, and on we went under his 



FROM HARRAN TO SANAMEIN. 



209 



guidance, without even dismounting. We took a most 
friendly farewell of Sheikh Mahumd, telling him we 
should not fail to acquaint the Prussian Consul with his 
attentions, and promising, at his urgent request, that if 
the view I had taken of Ghassule should succeed, I 
would send him a copy of it. I need scarcely add here 
that I fulfilled my promise, through Dr. Wetzstein. On 
leaving Nejha, we passed to the south of a range of 
small conical hills called Tellul Khurjille, which sepa- 
rate the Merj from the valley of the Awaj . 

Whether the patriarch Jacob crossed the Awaj here, 
or had driven his flocks further up the valley of the 
river in anticipation of his flight, may be difficult to 
determine. At all events, there are at the present day 
few or no trees near Nejha; whereas along the banks of 
the river higher up they increase in number, till about 
Kisweh they are plentiful. The distance of " three days' 
journey/' which Laban set betwixt himself and Jacob, 
would be best answered by placing the grazing- ground 
of the latter as far westward as possible up the banks of 
the stream ; whilst the " rods of green poplar, and of the 
hazel and chestnut-tree," which he " took and pilled white 
strakes in," would have required the presence of such 
trees, or rather of the poplar, and of the almond and 
plane trees, as commentators suppose those to be that are 
named in the Hebrew text. At the time of year when 
we visited Syria the leaves were falling fast, so that we 
could not distinguish what kinds of trees are now grow- 

p 



210 



Jacob's flight. 



ing on the banks of the river ; but the three last-named 
are common throughout all the country, and it is a 
coincidence not undeserving of remark, that the young 
plantations at Harran consist of two of them, namely 
the poplar and the plane. 

The country here began to be strewn with stones, 
much like the ground in Mauritius; only the stones 
here were very much smaller, and appeared to me like 
lumps of cinder. As we went on they increased in size 
and quantity, and in places we found them cleared off 
the ground and placed in rows, which made the resem- 
blance to Mauritius all the greater. At 3.45 p.m. we 
passed by Khurjille, a large village on the opposite side 
of the Awaj ; just beyond which place we crossed the 
river by a stone bridge in very bad condition, it having 
been injured by the floods. As soon as we reached the 
opposite bank, our guide threw clown his cloak and ran 
off towards the village; but Abu Salim galloped after 
him, and brought him back in a very short time. He said 
he was only going to ask for a guide to take his place. 
But this excuse would not do for us. We said that 
Sheikh Mahmud had engaged him to take us to Kisweh, 
and to Kisweh he must go, and that without even stop- 
ping a moment. The detention, for the ostensible pur- 
pose of procuring a fresh guide, would doubtless have 
ended in our being kept at Khurjille for the night, or 
perhaps worse ; for it is an ugly-looking out-of-the-way 
place, and we should not at all have liked to remain 
there. 



FROM HARRAN TO SANAMEIN. 



211 



Our road now continued along the south side of the 
river, skirting Jebel Manihh and the country of the 
Druzes. Just above us, on the left-hand, ran a canal, 
cut all the way from Kisweh, to irrigate the low grounds 
between it and the river. In the course of our journey 
we saw many such canals. The expense of making them 
and keeping them in repair must be considerable; and 
they prove the attention formerly paid to agriculture to 
have been greater than at the present day, for they are 
now getting very much out of order. Before crossing 
the Awaj we particularly noticed a kneyeh, or under- 
ground canal, of the description mentioned in a former 
chapter,"* which we found almost entirely fallen in, so 
as to have become in fact an open canal. The Awaj 
truly deserves its name, which means "the crooked/' 
Never was there such a winding stream, the bends of 
it returning on one another, so as sometimes almost 
to touch. It would be quite impossible to represent it 
truly on a map. 

If we regard the water-parting, that is to say the sum- 
mit of the mountain-range bounding the river Pharpar 
or Awaj towards the south, and not the course of the 
river itself, as the natural territorial division between 
the land of Aram and u the east country/' occupied by 
the Midianites and other descendants of Abraham out 
of the right line, we must consider the northern slope 
of Jebel Manihh as forming a portion of Aram Naha- 

# See page 110. 

P 2 



212 



Jacob's flight. 



raim ; and it is here, therefore, in " the mountains of 
the east/' that we must look for " Pethor of Aram Na- 
haraim/' the residence of the prophet Balaam, " which 
is by the river of the land of the children of his people." 
Thus it is intelligible why Balak, king of Moab, when 
he sent for Balaam to curse Israel, should have availed 
himself of the assistance of the Midianites, as occupying 
the country intervening between Moab and Aram ; and 
it is likewise intelligible how, when the Israelites, under 
Phinehas, shortly afterwards conquered the Midianites, 
Balaam, the son of Beor, should also have been slain 
among his friends and near neighbours. 

Just before we reached Kisweh it began to rain hard, 
so that we were nearly wet through by the time we 
arrived, which was at a quarter past five o'clock. We 
were very tired, and yet more cold. Our day's work 
had been a hard one, and the muleteers grumbled very 
much. The village was so full of soldiers, both regulars 
and bashi-buzuks, that we had much difficulty in finding 
a lodging. It was nearly an hour before we could get 
into a decent house, and even the way to this was most 
filthy. Soon after we arrived we sent our dragoman to 
the barracks, with the letter from Emin Pasha to Ahmed 
Agha. The latter was gone to Ghabaghib, leaving in 
his place his lieutenant, Suleiman Agha, whose son soon 
waited on us with three or four attendants, to say that 
his father would obey the Pasha's commands, and send 
us on with an escort to Ahmed Agha, who would him- 



FROM HARRAN TO SANAME1N. 



213 



self provide for our safe arrival at Eshmiskin. So far 
so good. Our people were now in better humour, and 
quite prepared to go on ; only they bargained for not so 
long a day's march as that of to-day, which altogether 
had lasted as much as nine hours. We explained to 
them that it was un cas tout-a-fait exceptionnel, and 
that Ghabaghib, where Ahmed Agha was, would be only 
half the distance. 

Thursday, January 2nd, — At seven o'clock, when we 
got up, nobody was stirring, and we had to call Abu 
Salim two or three times before we could get him to 
bring our chocolate. On the road from Beyrout it was 
he who was always up first, and who quite annoyed us 
by hurrying us, and coming in to pack up the things 
before we were half ready. The difference is, that then 
he had contracted for the whole journey at a fixed 
price : now we are paying him by the day, so that he 
does not care how long the journey lasts. Long before 
we were ready, our escort was at the door, waiting to 
start. At length we were in our saddles, and off at 
9.30 a.m. But before we left the place my husband went 
to pay his respects to Suleiman Agha, who was most 
polite, saying that though the Pasha's order was to 
Ahmed Agha, yet out of respect to us he had acted 
on it, so far as to send us on to that officer, whom we 
should find at Ghabaghib. 

Kisweh is a large village — I may rather call it a town 
— standing high on a rock on the southern bank of the 



214 



JACOBUS FLIGHT. 



Awaj, commanding the Haj road from Esli-Sliam or 
Damascus to Mecca. From its position, it must be dry 
and healthy. Our escort consisted of twelve men — an 
unnecessarily large number, as it appeared to us ; but I 
dare say Abu Salim had asked for them. They were 
bashi-buzuks, or irregular horse, some armed with spears 
ten or twelve feet long, others with guns not exactly 
regulation, and some with only swords and pistols. They 
were dressed in all sorts of costumes, and made alto- 
gether a very picturesque appearance. Their order of 
march was just as irregular as their dress and equip- 
ment. However, we all went on together in the best 
possible humour, the soldiers galloping about in all 
directions; and every now and then, when they were 
straggling or got on too far ahead, their commander 
called them in, and they stopped in a group, very pleas- 
ing to look at, till all the mules had come up and passed 
them, when on they dashed again. 

Our road was across a wild and desolate stony plain, 
without a sign of life — without a habitation or a tree of 
any kind — without even a blade of grass. The total 
absence of trees is a remarkable feature of the whole of 
the plain country, between the regions of Bashan and 
Gilead on the one hand and the mountains of Hauran 
on the other. At some distance from our road towards 
the east is a hill, noted for a solitary tree standing on it, 
from which singularity it has appropriately acquired the 
distinctive appellation of Tell Abu Shajar. This name 



FROM HARRAN TO SANAMEIN. 



215 



has, however, been too literally translated the Hill of the 
Father of a Tree. It should rather be Father One-Tree, 
or simply and more idiomatically One-Tree Hill. In 
such expressions as this, the Arabic Abu and JJmm do 
not mean "the father or mother" of such and such a 
thing; but in most cases they correspond precisely to 
our familiar epithets Father (or Daddy) and Mother, in 
such names as Father (or Daddy) Longlegs, Mother 
Goose, etc. The nickname Abu Tarbush given to Ibra- 
him Pasha, on account of his having introduced the 
Turkish fez or tarbush into the Egyptian army, did not 
mean the Father of Tarbushes or red-caps, but Daddy 
Red-cap, just as Marshal Bugeaud was called by his 
soldiers in Algeria Papa Moustache, because of the im- 
mense mustachoes worn by him. 

Khan Denun, the first station on the Haj route after 
Kisweh, is a solitary building, serving as a place of 
shelter to travellers ; its site being chosen on account of 
the water, which is mostly to be met w T ith, from some 
springs in the neighbourhood. "We found the ground 
very swampy, as might be expected at this season of the 
year ; but not so much so as to render necessary a 
circuit by Deir Ali, as the Druze at Damascus wished 
us to believe. At 11 a.m. some human figures were 
seen before us at a distance, moving across the line of our 
march. On this our whole party closed up ; and while 
we proceeded slowly, one of the horsemen rode forward 
to reconnoitre. The strangers turned ont to be some 



Jacob's flight. 



inoffensive peasants driving a couple of donkeys before 
them ; so it was only a false alarm. 

Shortly after noon we approached Subbet Fir'on, a 
large stony tell or conical hill, with a ruin on its sum- 
mit, having the appearance of two columns, with a 
cornice above like a doorway. To this hill, w T hich ap- 
pears to be of volcanic origin, is attached a legend, from 
which it derives its name of Subbet Fir'on — the Corn- 
heap of Pharaoh. When that monarch — of course the 
oppressor of the Israelites under Moses, for no other is 
known — was building the aqueduct between Dilli and 
Mukes, known as Kanatir Fir' on, — Pharaoh's Bridges, 
about which I shall have to say more, by-and-by, — 
he took forcible possession of a large quantity of corn 
belonging to the inhabitants of Hauran, and piled it up 
in three heaps, to serve as food for the workmen em- 
ployed on the building. Of these three heaps, the Subbeh 
was one, the others being two smaller conical hills called 
Gardra, which word means a heap of corn of a smaller 
size. But one day, when the tyrant had sent his biggest 
camel to fetch some corn from these heaps, God changed 
them into the three stony masses now seen, whose names 
perpetuate their former state ; the camel itself being at 
the same time transformed into a similar stony mass, 
standing between the two gararas, of which the shape 
bears a rude resemblance to that of the animal. 

We stopped to lunch under the side of Subbet Fir'on ; 
and shortly after leaving again, we passed, at a little 



FROM HARRAN TO SANAMEIN. 



217 



distance to the rights on the summit of a low range of 
hills, a ruin which one of the escort called Kasr Ibn 
el-Kawas, the Castle of the Janissary's son. I dare say 
there is some story attached to it, but we were not told 
it. After crossing a small brook over a bridge,, to which 
they gave the name of Jisr el-Khanafis, and then a 
causeway on low arches through a shallow lake or 
swamp, we came to a small village built of the black 
basaltic stone of Hauran, of which the name Ghaba- 
ghib (with two unpronounceable letters the same as in 
Bghitan) is quite in character with the place itself ; it 
being a most wretched collection of hovels, with no 
means of approach but by scrambling over a heap of 
rugged rocks, at the top of which it is built ; and the 
only motive for its existence being, that it commands 
the neighbouring water, and thus forms one of the 
stations of the Haj. 

It was here we were to have found Ahmed Agha ; but, 
to our dismay, we learnt that he had left for Sanamein. 
Of course we at once proposed to follow him, but our 
escort refused to go any further, and our own attendants 
did the same. Abu Salim at first said that the soldiers 
wanted to stop here for the night, and that they would 
go on with us in the morning ; but he afterwards told us 
their orders were to accompany us only as far as Ghaba- 
ghib. Whatever the truth may have been, we were 
determined not to pass the night in this solitary place, 
on the very borders of the Leja, the country of the 



218 



Jacob's flight. 



Sulut Arabs, where we were pretty certain to be plun- 
dered, and not unlikely to have our throats cut before 
morning. Had Ahmed Agha been here with his troops 
to protect us, it would have been another thing. Besides 
all this, it was only half-past one in the afternoon, so 
that there was no excuse for not going on. 

Our minds were therefore made up in an instant, and 
without even dismounting, we demanded a guide from 
the sheikh, who gave us one. Abu Salim and our peo- 
ple persisted in saying they would go no further without 
the escort ; but my husband and I pushed on alone, 
leaving all our baggage and mules and people behind, 
and taking the chance of their following us. In descend- 
ing from the village over the rocks, my husband's mule 
came down on his knees, bursting the crupper and 
throwing his rider forward, so that he could not recover 
his seat, but slipt over the animal's neck. Seeing this, 
I jumped from my horse, just in time to save my hus- 
band's head from coming in contact with the stones. 
As it was, there was fortunately no harm done, and we 
soon continued on our way with the guide only, whom 
we induced to accompany us by the promise of a good 
bakhshish. It was not till we were nearly out of sight 
of Ghabaghib, and after repeatedly looking back, that 
we perceived our people and mules coming slowly on 
after us, the soldiers stopping behind altogether. Just 
before Abu Salim came up with us, the guide, who had 
lagged for the others, fairly bolted. Abu Salim called 



FROM HARE AN TO SANAMEIN. 



219 



out to tell us of this, thinking no doubt that we should 
turn back likewise, but we took no heed of what he 
said, and jogged quietly on along the sultaniye/i, that is 
to say, the sultan's road, equivalent to the queen's 
highway with us. 

This road has in past times received much attention 
from the rulers of the country, the streams being bridged 
over and a broad causeway laid in many parts ; but the 
whole is now in so dilapidated a condition, that it is 
often preferable to travel by the side of the road, instead 
of upon the causeway itself ; whilst many of the arches 
of the bridges are broken through, so as at times to 
render the passage over them not without danger. The 
country beyond Ghabagliib began to improve in cha- 
racter, and parts of it were under tillage, the signs of 
improvement being more manifest the further we pro- 
ceeded south. It must have been formerly more thickly 
peopled than it is at the present day, from the remains 
of numerous villages which we passed on our road, now 
in ruins and apparently quite deserted. 

Soon after half-past four we arrived in safety at Sana- 
mein. The whole way my husband and I had been 
riding on alone; Abu Salim, who had gradually been 
creeping up to us, having only joined us just as we 
reached the town. The approach to this place from 
the north is very striking; two lofty square towers 
being visible from a considerable distance, and giving to 
the place in our eyes a general resemblance to the town 



220 



JACOB* S FLIGHT. 



V 



of Sandwich, as seen across the marshes on the way 
from Ash. 

As soon as Abu Salim joined us, we sent him to look 
for Ahmed Agha ; but he had again flitted. They told 
us he was scouring the country in pursuit of the Sulut 
Beduins, being one night at one place and the next at 
another. This was not very pleasant intelligence to us, 
as we feared it would place obstacles in the way of our 
further progress. The sheikh of Sanamein w^as not at 
home, but we took possession of the menzul as a matter 
of course. There were several persons in it, whom Abu 
Salim, also as a matter of course, unceremoniously 
turned out. 

We had hardly settled down by the fire, which was 
made of a log of wood in a hole in the middle of the 
floor, when our dragoman came in to remonstrate — and 
more than remonstrate : it was a regular strike. He 
said he had never been in the habit of travelling in that 
manner, and he would not do so now. He demanded 
protection for his life and that of his people. We re- 
plied that we, for our parts, had no desire or intention 
to run into needless danger ; but that, if we were con- 
tent to risk our lives and property, — supposing there was 
any risk, which we said there was not,— we thought he 
might do the same. This, however, he did not at all 
admit. He said he had a regard for his life, whatever 
we might have for ours ; and that neither he nor any of 
his people would stir a step further without protection. 



FROM HARRAN TO SANAMEIN. 



221 



We called him a coward, thinking to shame him ; but 
this had no effect, and so we finished the discussion with 
a regular defiance. We told him most distinctly and 
seriously, that we should go on to Eshmiskin the next 
morning, let whatever might happen ; and that if he and 
his muleteers did not accompany us, it would be at their 
peril. 

This made a decided impression on our dragoman, 
who had hoped to be able to carry matters with a high 
hand. A little parleying now ensued, and Abu Salim 
asked, in a tone very much mora respectful, whether we 
did not intend to take some escort from this place. 
We replied that we would take the sheikh if he would 
come, and half the inhabitants of the town with him, if 
he considered it necessary. Upon this. assurance he ceased 
his objections, and we began to see light. This was the 
more evident when Yussuf and the muleteers made their 
appearance. They had come to back their leader in the 
strike ; but hardly had they opened their mouths, when 
he turned round upon them and abused them famously ; 
and we were much amused at hearing him employ the 
very same arguments to them that we had made use of 
to him. We concluded therefore, that all would come 
right, especially as they set to work with a will to get 
our dinner ready. 

Before dinner was served the sheikh arrived on horse- 
back, and on dismounting he immediately entered the 
menzul. He was received by us, or rather by Abu Sa- 



222 



Jacob's flight. 



lim in our name,, with, great ceremony. Our man, who 
was now on his best behaviour, was profuse in his com- 
pliments^ brought in coffee, and while the sheikh was 
drinking it, began telling him the object of our journey 
and what we required of him. The latter was not less 
polite than we were, and assured us without hesitation 
that he would not only accompany us to Eshmiskin, but 
all over Hauran and the Leja, and would go with us for 
two months if we required him to do so. We thanked 
him for his kind offer, but said that we should be more 
than satisfied if he would only escort us to-morrow, to 
which he replied most solemnly, 61 On my head be it," 
suiting the action to the word ; and an elderly sheikh, a 
relative of his, who had accompanied him, exclaimed 
more emphatically and sonorously, " On my head." 

As we were now going to dinner, they took their 
leave ; but in the evening the sheikh returned with one 
of his sons, to inform us that it rained in a little on the 
side of the room where our beds had been placed, and 
he recommended our moving them, which we did. Abu 
Salim and Yussuf (the cook) were just going to sit down 
to dinner in one corner of the room. The former could 
not do less than invite the sheikh and his son to eat with 
him ; so the three sat down together, the cook leaving 
his place at the table to wait on them, and among them 
they cleared off poor Yussuf s share of the repast. The 
sheikh now said he had eaten our bread and our salt, 
and we were brothers ; and he repeated his offer of ser- 



FROM HARRAN TO SANAMEIN. 



223 



vices in almost stronger terms than before. We showed 
him Emin Pasha's buyuruldi to Ahmed Agha, which, not 
having fallen in with him, we of course retained in our 
possession ; and it seemed to have its due effect on him, 
especially as we told him that we should not fail to tell 
the English Consul how he had carried out the Pasha's 
order instead of Ahmed Agha. He was evidently pleased 
with all this, and got my husband to write down his 
name — Sheikh Ism ay in el Pelahh of Sanamein — very 
carefully in order that we might not forget it. The 
whole of the evening they remained smoking their horrid 
pipes and chatting, to my great discomfort, till I was 
compelled at last to beg them to leave the room, as I 
w r anted to retire to rest. 

Sanamein — " the Two Idols " — is the representative 
of the ancient Aere of the Itinerary of Antonine. It is 
a strange place, it being at present a dwelling among 
tombs. The houses, many of which are uninhabited and 
in ruins, appear to have been more than once destroyed 
and rebuilt with the materials of the former erections. 
The water of Sanamein runs to the Sheriat el Mandhur 
or Yarmuk, the ancient Hieromax, which is a chief tribu- 
tary of the Jordan, if even it is not larger than the 
direct stream; the water-parting between the basin of 
this river and that of the Awaj or Pharpar, is in the 
neighbourhood of Ghabaghib : so that here for the first 
time we drank of water flowing into the Jordan. 



224 



CHAPTER XIII. 

EEOM SANAMEIN TO ESHMISKIK. 

Friday, January 3rd.— The difference between last 
evening and this morning was like the appearance of a 
theatre by night and by daylight. Soon after we had 
risen, Sheikh Ismayin came to pay his respects, and to 
say that as Ahmed Agha and his soldiers were at Inkhil, 
a place a few miles off towards the south-west, it would 
be only necessary for him to accompany lis so far. We 
replied that Inkhil was out of our road to Eshmiskin, and 
that we should certainly not think of going there merely 
to see Ahmed Agha. With this answer he appeared 
satisfied and withdrew ; but he soon came back to say 
that the weather was bad and the road likewise, and that 
the journey, which last night he had described as one of 
five hours, would occupy at least eight. He therefore 
suggested that we should remain here for the day. We 
thanked him for his consideration, but said that if we 
waited to-day for the weather, we might have to wait to- 
morrow likewise, or at this season of the year even a 



FROM SANAMEIN TO ESHMISK1N. 



225 



week or a month ; and therefore we had quite made up 
our minds to leave. It was evident he did not intend to 
accompany us in the rain, and the result was as we an- 
ticipated. When we were ready to start, we found that 
we were to be placed under the guidance and protection 
of a single unarmed man, who, we were told, was a son 
of the sheikh. We had expected some demur on the 
part of our people this morning ; but our talk with Abu 
Salim last night, and probably also the assurance of the 
sheikh that there was absolutely no danger, had had 
their effect ; for we heard not a word of grumbling in- 
doors, and the loading of the mules went on outside 
quite quietly. 

We have christened our dragoman Don Quixote, and 
our cook Sancho Panza. Yussuf is a fat little fellow, 
always quiet and good-tempered, with a grin on his face 
whenever spoken to ; and he generally rides on at the 
head of the party, seated on his horse, with his pots and 
pans, amidst which he sits, clattering around him. His 
master, though anything but Quixotic, is most assuredly 
a Knight of the Sorrowful Countenance, always grum- 
bling, always dissatisfied, always complaining; and the 
most amusing part of his conduct is, that whenever we 
happen to find fault with him for anything done wrong 
or neglected, he immediately begins to rate poor Yussuf 
most roundly ; and the latter, whenever he has an op- 
portunity, in his xurn vents his anger (which however is 
never very great) on the muleteers. 

Q 



226 



Jacob's flight. 



It had rained heavily during the greater part of the 
night, and it was anything but fair in the morning. 
Indeed, during the whole day we had showers, but for- 
tunately they never lasted long enough to wet us through. 
We started at a quarter past nine, and shortly afterwards 
fell in with a party of five or six villagers going our 
way, with their mules laden. With them our people at 
once joined company, and the whole party went on toge- 
ther, through a rich and well- cultivated country, talking, 
laughing, and smoking, with no more cause to fear than 
there was in the Plain of Damascus. A little further 
on we crossed a bridge of five arches, with two smaller 
ones, over a stream running to the Yarmuk. Our road 
continued along the sultaniyeh, here and there travers- 
ing causeways through swamps and bridges over small 
streams, of which the courses were to the Wady Har- 
ram, which ran along on our left-hand; and, passing suc- 
cessively the villages of Kneyeh, Liktebeh, and Mahajjeh, 
at noon we came to the river, which we crossed by a 
bridge of five arches, one of which is partly broken in. 
We then continued down the other bank of the stream, 
passing to our left Tell Mikdad, with a building on the 
summit, and then another tell further off : the two re- 
minding my husband of Debiet and Arira, in the plains 
of Gojam in Southern Abessinia. 

In about an hour and a half we came to Dilli, a ruined 
building, near a large marsh, called El-Gab, which, from 
its always possessing a supply of water from numerous 



FROM SANA ME IN TO ESHMISKJN. 



227 



springs, forms one of the Haj stations. It is here that 
commences the ancient aqueduct, to which I have already 
alluded under the name of Pharaoh's Bridges. This 
gigantic work, of which considerable portions still exist, 
though in a state of ruin and decay, was carried from 
El-Gab southwards along the eastern side of the ml- 
taniyeh, which it crossed in the neighbourhood of Wady 
esh-Shellaleh — the River of the Cataract — over the deep 
valley of which stream it was conveyed upon a double 
(or, if I am not mistaken, a triple) row of arches — 
kanatir fok kanatir, " bridges above bridges ; " thence 
proceeding westward to Mukes, the ancient Gadara, on 
the brink of the valley of the Jordan, for the supply of 
which city wdth water this aqueduct appears to have 
been constructed. 

Notwithstanding the local tradition which would 
throw back the erection of Pharaoh's Bridges till the 
time of the Exodus of the Israelites, it is an historical 
fact, not generally known but not the less easily to be 
demonstrated, that it is the work of a comparatively 
recent period. In the Annals of the Arabian historian 
Hamzeh-el-Isfahani, as is shown in Dr. Wetzstein's valu- 
able little work, to which I have already referred more 
than once, it is expressly recorded that this aqueduct 
was constructed by Jebeleh I., the fifth king of the dy- 
nasty of the Gassanides ; and as this dynasty commenced 
about a.i). 135, the date of the structure cannot be 
earlier than the middle of the third century of our era. 

Q 2 



228 



Jacob's flight. 



From Dr. Wetzstein's investigations, it appears that 
to this powerful yet almost unknown line of monarchs 
of Himyaritic extraction, who, professing Christianity, 
were among the first converts to our religion, must be 
attributed the erection of very many of the cities east 
of Jordan, which by recent travellers have been sup- 
posed to be the " threescore cities, all fenced with high 
walls, gates, and bars/' of Og, king of Bashan, who 
was conquered by the Israelites under Moses. Dr. 
Wetzstein has copied several hundreds of the inscriptions 
still existing in these ruined cities, and Mr. Waddington 
as many astwo thousand; and, as far as my husband un- 
derstands the subject, not one of these inscriptions is of a 
date earlier than the commencement of the Christian era. 

If this should really be the case, — and there seems 
no reason to doubt it, — it must be a great disappoint- 
ment to those who have imagined that they saw, in these 
comparatively modern buildings, the venerable relics 
of a pre-Israelitish age. Such an idea has been enter- 
tained, not merely by persons whom philosophers might 
perhaps look down on, as over-credulous and ready to 
believe any old wife's tale, but by those strong-minded 
freethinkers, whom no one would imagine likely to be 
so misled. Even Bishop Colenso, while questioning 
whether Og's bedstead of iron may not have been a stone 
sarcophagus, does not hesitate to believe in the preser- 
vation to this day, almost intact, of the stone cities of 
that monarch's kingdom; for he says that " doubtless 



FEOM SANAMEIN TO ESHMISKIN. 



229 



these massive Cyclopean ruins existed in the time of the 
Deuteronomist, as they exist now, and as they probably 
existed for ages before him." This mixture of scepticism 
and credulity reminds one of the story of the old woman, 
who refused to believe her grandson, the sailor-boy, 
when he told her he had seen a flying-fish, but readily 
credited his story of how the crew of his ship, when in 
the Red Sea, had pulled up with their anchor one of 
Pharaoh's chariot-wheels. I have recently been given to 
understand, that Mr. Consul Rogers has sent to th6 
British Museum a door from one of these ancient cities. 
Our archaeologists at home may thus be able to decide 
for themselves, as to the age of the buildings to which 
it belongs. 

All the way to-day our guide had been particularly 
attentive, telling us the names of places, and explaining 
to us everything of note along the road, finishing, how- 
ever, each piece of information with the expression of 
his hope that we should not forget his bakhshish. As we 
approached Eshmiskin, having got us quite alone, he 
gently hinted to us that, inshallah, he would receive 
twenty or thirty pieces of gold ; to which modest sug- 
gestion we made no reply, but mentally wished he might 
get it, though certainly not from us. At the end of our 
day's journey the road turned a little to the right, and 
we descended to the village of Eshmiskin, where we 
arrived at half-past three, fortunately just before it began 
to rain again very heavily. As we approached we saw 



230 



JACOB* S FLIGHT. 



several persons on the look-out on the house-tops and 
on a very high mound, seemingly artificial ; which, in 
the constantly disturbed state of the country, is a matter 
of necessary precaution. 

We proceeded, as usual, straight to the menzul, where 
we were welcomed by the sheikh's brother, a remarkably 
fine man, almost gigantic in his proportions, who might 
well represent the ancient Rephaim ; and by-and-by the 
sheikh himself came in, who was as fine a man as his 
brother. He made us sit down close by the fire, and 
gave us coffee ; and, perceiving the heat and smoke to 
be too much for us, he ordered his brother to take away 
the root of a large olive-tree, which lay smouldering on 
the hearth in the middle of the room, without any 
chimney to carry off the smoke. This the giant lifted up 
and carried out of the house, almost without an effort. 
There is no wood about here, and all the fuel has to be 
brought from Jebel-ed-Druze, as the mountains of Han- 
ran are called. There is also plenty of wood on Jebel 
Ajlun or Mount Gilead. 

In the room was a man very ill of fever, on whom I 
took compassion, giving him some medicine, and sending 
him off to bed. The sheikh no sooner saw this, than 
he requested me to go and see his two wives, who were 
both ill. I at once followed him to his harim, where 
I found the ladies evidently suffering from fever. The 
elder of the two, whose name was Fat m eh, had already 
partly recovered from her attack, but was still weak. 



FROM SANAMEIN TO ESHMISKIN. 



231 



The younger, named Leileh, a very interesting delicate- 
looking little thing, with pretty dark eyes and luxuriant 
black hair, was apparently in a high state of fever, ana 
suffering great pain in the head. With a view to im- 
prove her condition, she was laid on a mattress on the 
floor, wrapped up in a quantity of clothes, with a char- 
coal fire placed close to her ; the room, which was small, 
being filled with women, and having the doors and every 
means of ventilation stopped up, so that the place smelt 
and felt horridly close and unhealthy. 

My first duty was to have the fire removed to the 
further end of the room, and the doors opened to let in 
fresh air ; and I then dismissed several of the women, 
and got the others to keep away from my patient. After 
feeling her pulse and looking at her tongue, which both 
indicated a high state of fever, and making inquiries 
rather by signs than by words, I administered a dose of 
medicine, which I thought likely to soothe and relieve 
her. I did the same for the other lady ; and then made 
up some doses of quinine, which I left with the sheikh, 
to be given to them both. The women seemed quite 
grateful, and wanted me to stay a long time with them. 
I think they fancied me a wonderful person in thus 
being able to doctor them ; but I am an old practitioner, 
having had in Mauritius a large establishment of Indian 
servants to attend to, one or other of whom was always 
coming to me, as their " papa-maman," to be cured of 
some ailment. Besides I had my husband with me as 



232 



Jacob's flight. 



a consulting physician ! The sheikh remained with mq 
the whole time, and appeared to take great interest in 
all I did to ease his wives' sufferings, particularly thq 
younger and prettier of the two. 

On returning to the menzul I was beset by patients, 
some with fever, others with bad eyes, (which seemed 
to be a general disease here, as indeed everywhere in 
these countries,) some with sore fingers, and even broken 
limbs, which they fancied I could mend in the twinkling 
of an eye ; till at length I was fairly tired out, and told 
them I could not attend to any more that night. 

Sheikh Ahmed el- Hariri, better known as Ahmed et- 
Turk, is the most powerful and important of the settled 
inhabitants of Hauran. His title is Sheikh Mushaikh 
Hauran, that is to say, the. Sheikh of the Sheikhs of 
Hauran; he and his whole tribe being Sherrifs or de- 
scendants of the Prophet, and as such bearing the title 
of Sheikh, which belongs to all indiscriminately, young 
and old, rich and poor. This is the only hereditary 
nobility among the Mohammedans, resembling that of 
the Continent, which descends to all children alike. 
Sheikh Ahmed had with him two sons. The elder, by 
Leileh, a remarkably fine lad, was evidently the favourite, 
being his father's constant companion ; the other was a 
little boy, who was pointed out to us as Fatmeh's son. 

While we were at dinner, we told Abu Salim to ask 
the particulars of Ahmed et-Turk's interference on be- 
half of the Christians of Hauran, respecting which Dr. 



FROM SANAMEIN TO ESHMISKIN. 



233 



Wetzstein had spoken to us in Damascus,, and had 
requested us to make inquiries on the spot. Ahmed et- 
Turk stated, that last summer, when he was at Inkhil 
on account of the want of water at Eshmiskin, a camel- 
driver from Damascus brought news of the massacre of 
the Christians in that city. Much agitation immedi- 
ately ensued throughout Haurafti, and the Christians 
were everywhere threatened. This was particularly the 
case at Ezra* or Zora c (erroneously supposed by some 
persons to be the Edrei of Scripture), a village on the 
western side of the Leja, a few miles to the north-east 
of Eshmiskin, where there were as many as five or six 
hundred Christians, the inhabitants of two villages in 
Jebel Hauran, who, having been ill-treated by the Druzes 
there four or five years ago, had left their homes and had 
come and settled at Ezra'. Ahmed et-Turk immediately 
sent letters to all his tribe, and soon collected a body of 
two hundred armed men, and at their head he hurried 
to Ezra', arriving just in time to save the Christians 
from the Arabs of the Leja, whom he drove off. He 
then sent letters to all the chiefs of tribes in the Leja/ 
requesting them to spare the Christians among them for 
his sake, w r hich they did ; though his letters arrived too 
late to prevent the occurrence of some plundering. 
From Ezra c he went to Mahajjeh, a village a few miles 
further to the north, where he sheltered and supported 
ten Christian families from the neighbouring village of 
Hhirata. At another time, seeing a party of Druzes 



234 



Jacob's flight. 



driving away the cattle of some Christians, he pursued 
them, and recovered the property with his sword. 

There can be no doubt of all that was thus related to 
us by Ahmed et-Turk being substantially true, as it con- 
firmed what we had already heard from the Prussian 
Consul. We asked whether any notice had been taken 
of this meritorious conduct; to which the sheikh's 
brother replied, that shortly after these occurrences he 
went to Damascus and told the Consul of Rum — by 
which I suppose he meant the Greek Consul — as like- 
wise the French Consul, of what his brother had done, 
but no notice whatever was taken of it. He did not 
however go to the English Consul. We told Sheikh 
Ahmed that we were sure nothing of his conduct could 
be known in England, where we should, however, feel 
it to be our duty to make it known. Shortly after our 
return to England my husband fulfilled his promise, by 
communicating to Lord Dufferin the foregoing parti- 
culars. 

In Murray's c Handbook for Syria and Palestine ' it 
is stated that Eshmiskin is "occupied exclusively by 
Muslems, famous, like their all brethren along the Haj 
road, for fanaticism. Fortunate will the traveller be, 
or at least well protected, who escapes insolence and in- 
sult at their hands." In common fairness to Ahmed 
et-Turk and his people, I am bound, in the name of 
my husband and myself, as travellers who visited them 
certainly without any great protection, to protest against 



FROM SANAMETN TO ESHMISK1N. 



235 



such a charge being applicable to them; though, after 
the instances of noble and disinterested conduct which 
T have just related, and which show the very reverse of 
fanaticism, it can hardly be necessary for me to enter 
such a protest. 

Before we left Damascus Dr. Wetzstein had been 
rather particular in instructing us how we were to be- 
have towards Ahmed et-Turk. On the day of our 
arrival we were not to speak to him at all about our 
further journey, neither were we to give him the pre- 
sent intended for him. All this we were to leave till 
the following morning, and when it should be time for 
us to think of leaving, Abu Salim was to take the coat 
to the sheikh in his house, and put it on him without 
saying a word ; upon which Ahmed et-Turk could not 
do less than come and thank us in person, and we 
should then have an opportunity of asking him for an 
escort, which he would be bound to grant us, and even 
to accompany us in person, if we required it. In spite 
of this pretty arrangement, no sooner had we finished 
our inquiries about the sheikh's interference on behalf of 
the Christians, than Abu Salim began speaking about 
our journey ; to which Ahmed et-Turk replied that he 
had no authority out of Hauran, but he knew a man 
who could take us from village to village as far as Ke- 
frenji, the sheikh of which place, whom he also knew, 
would see us in safety to Nablus. 

Saturday, Junuary 4th. — Though the conversation of 



236 



Jacob's flight* 



last night has so far disarranged our plan, we still 
thought it right to carry it out as far as lay in our 
power ; so as soon as we were up this morning we sent 
Abu Salim with the coat. He came back in a few mi- 
nutes, saying that the sheikh had received it in silence, 
without thanks, and without even saying a civil word to 
him (Abu Salim), which seemed to affect him more than 
anything else. Sheikh Mahmud, who was present, re- 
marked however that he too ought to have a coat. We 
feared that we had played our game badly, but waited 
awhile to see whether Sheikh Ahmed would come and 
thank us. Seeing and hearing nothing of him, and being 
desirous of departing, we were* at length obliged to send 
our dragoman to him again, with a request that he 
would arrange for our journey, as it was getting late in 
the day. On this he made his appearance, saluting us 
in a friendly but decidedly cool manner, and instead of 
speaking of our journey, he began telling me about 
his wives, who were not well, he said ; to which I re- 
plied, with professional dignity, that they would be 
better by-and-by, Inshallah ! When the health of my 
patients had been sufficiently discussed, we spoke about 
the arrangements for our journey ; when Ahmed et-Turk 
said he would send his brother Mahmud on with us to 
Turra, where we should sleep, and we should thence be 
passed on by the sheikh of Turra to the next village in 
safety ; and so on. He added that the road was quite 
safe the whole way. 



FROM SANAMEIN TO ESHMISKIN. 



237 



Our host now set to work making up the fire. A 
basket of charcoal was brought in and placed by his 
side, from which he took out piece by piece, and piled 
them upon the embers most artistically, — putting a 
live coal here and another there between them ; and, 
when all was arranged to his satisfaction, he began 
blowing up the fire with the skirts of his coat. One 
of his kinsmen, who was sitting by his side, offered to 
relieve him, on which the sheikh sat aside, watching the 
other's movements. But as, with us, no one ever thinks 
another can poke the fire as well as himself, so Sheikh 
Ahmed soon began to think the same as to blowing it ; 
and, pushing the other aside, he set to work fanning 
most vigorously, and shortly had a good fire, with which 
he seemed not a little satisfied. 

He then sent a man out for some coffee, — obtained 
from Abu Salim, as the latter took care to let us know, 
as if he were the sufferer, when in fact we had paid him 
for it, — which, when brought in, was looked over with 
great care, and then put into an iron pan with a long 
handle. The duty of roasting was entrusted to Sheikh 
Mahmiid, who carefully turned the beans over with an 
iron spoon, of which the handle was as long as that 
of the pan, the operation being performed as if the fate 
of empires depended on it. When done, the coffee was 
emptied into a mortar made of olive-wood, handsomely 
inlaid in figures of different-coloured woods ; of which 
highly-esteemed utensil the place of honour was on 



238 



Jacob's flight. 



a corner of the hearthstone, in which a hole was cut 
for it to stand. 

Meanwhile the water was boiled by Sheikh Ahmed 
himself in the best coffee-pot, from which what remained 
of yesterday's coffee, except just the grounds, had first 
been poured into a second larger pot, which served for 
persons of lower degree. Then the fresh-pounded coffee 
was taken by the sheikh out of the mortar, and put into 
the boiling water. The pot was now placed by the side 
of the fire, and when it had stood long enough to settle 
and fine, the sheikh poured a little out into a cup, and 
tasted it with all the gusto of a connoisseur. A cup w T as 
now poured out and handed to each of us, the whole cere- 
mony having taken place with the utmost form and pre- 
cision. 

Though we had no cause whatever to be dissatisfied 
with Ahmed et-Turk's reception and treatment of us, — 
in fact we should only have had reason to be thankful 
if we had been as well received everywhere, — still we 
could not but feel disappointed in finding things turn 
so differently from what we had been led to expect. 
We can only explain it by supposing that we were 
wanting, on our side, in the observance of the forms of 
Syrian etiquette ; and we cannot but think that we were 
at fault in at all alluding to our further journey over- 
night; but we could not prevent our dragoman from 
broaching the subject as he did. However, we must 
not blame him for so doing. In* Palestine and Egypt, 



FROM SANAMEIN TO ESHMI SKIN 



239 



on the beaten track of European travellers, his ordinary 
arrangements for lodgings, food, guides, escort, etc., are 
a pure matter of business ; and we conclude that he 
thought he was right in acting here according to his 
usual practice. 

Before taking leave of our host I went in to see my 
lady-patients, and found Leiieh's fever considerably 
abated. I recommended her and Fatmeh to take the 
medicines I had left for them, but after I was gone I 
dare say they did nothing of the sort. These people 
have their own notions with regard to medicines and 
their* operation. Like Naaman, the Syrian of old, who 
said, " Behold, I thought he will come out to me, and 
stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and 
strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper 
so they imagine they are to be cured at once by a charm 
or some sort of miraculous interference. The man's 
eye, which I had attended to last night, was however 
quite well in the morning, as he took care to show 
me; so that my prestige continued at all events till 
after my departure. 



240 



CHAPTER XIV. 

FROM ESHMISKIN TO MOUNT GILEAD. 

It was not till half- past nine that we left Eshmiskin. 
under the guidance of Sheikh Mali mud. We crossed 
by a good bridge of three arches, a stream running ta 
the south-west, and then continued over the fertile 
plains of the Nukra of Hauran, through a rich countrj . 
where the people were actively engaged in ploughing 
and sowing. In one field alone we counted twelve 
ploughs. The Nukra is one of the most fertile districts 
of Syria, and from it Damascus receives its chief supply 
of corn. As we went along, we could not help being 
amused at the different degrees of respect paid us by our 
dragoman, which varied in proportion to his fears. 
Between Beyrout and Damascus my husband was a 
simple Khaioaja ; then he was a Bek ; at Ghabaghib he 
became a Consul; here he had dropped down again to 
a Khawaja, though (as will be seen in the sequel) only 
for a time. 

After we had passed a couple of small conical hills on 



TEOM ESHMISKIN TO MOUNT GILEAD. 241 



our right-hand, the horizon in the west and south-west 
of us opened to our sight perfectly clear of mountains; 
while southward we perceived the low range of El Ka- 
farat, and behind and over it, and further to the south, 
the more lofty mass of Jebel Ajlun or Mount Gilead. No- 
thing could be more striking than this apparition, which 
took us quite by surprise ; nor could anything be more 
gratifying, since it so completely accorded with my 
husband's views as to the locality and circumstances of 
Jacob's flight from Padan Aram. Indeed it was not 
till this moment that we could fully appreciate the few 
emphatic words in which the patriarch's journey is re- 
corded : — u He passed over the river, and set his face 
toward the Mount Gilead," precisely as we were now 
doing when following in his footsteps. 

The level country on our right-hand is the district of 
Jaulan, which, though presenting on the east side of the 
Lake of Tiberias the edge of a high plateau intersected 
by deep ravines, is towards the west merely a continua- 
tion of the plains of the Nukra ; and from the fact that 
no mountain crosses Jaulan to connect Jebel esh-Sheikh 
or Hermon with Jebel Ajlun or Gilead, the latter 
mountain stands out distinctly and prominently before 
every one traversing those plains from the north and 
east, to whom it serves as a landmark and a guide, as 
it served to the patriarch Jacob, when he travelled by 
this same road nearly forty centuries ago. 

It was shortly after midday, while still continuing 

R 



242 



Jacob's flight. 



over the plain, and keeping the summit of Mount 
Gilead constantly in sight, that we arrived near the 
village of Tafs, containing a curious old tower. Here 
we stopped to iunch, and while we were thus occupied, 
Sheikh Mahmud went into the village and returned 
with a man, who, to our surprise, he said was to ac- 
company us in his place during the remainder of the 
day's journey. We were anything but pleased with 
this; and, on his asking for a bakhshish when taking 
leave, we told him that being on our journey, with 
everything packed up, we had nothing to give him. On 
his persisting in his demand, we referred him to Abu 
Salim, who at first said he likewise had nothing ; but on 
being pressed, he at last managed to hunt up a couple 
of mejidehs, which he offered to Mahmud, " to buy cof- 
fee/ 5 as he expressed it. The sheikh said that such a pre- 
sent was a shame, but he accepted it nevertheless, and 
took leave of us all, looking very sulky. 

From Tafs we still kept on the high-road with our 
new guide, till, at a little before two o'clock, we reached 
Kellat-em-Mezaiib, a Haj station close to a small lake 
called El Bejjeh, containing water all the year round, 
which in this waterless land it is important to guard. 
The place is a sort of fortress, the walls of which have 
lately been repaired, and it does not contain more than 
twenty or thirty families. Mount Gilead stood always 
before us, most distinctly visible, though not at all lofty 
on this side. From the opposite side of the Ghor — the 



FROM ESHMISKIN TO MOUNT GILEAD. 243 

low valley of the Jordan — it has the appearance of a 
range of mountains of considerable elevation. 

Continuing for some time over the plain, we crossed 
Wady Fariyan by a bridge, and then Wady Mitdan, both 
being head-streams of the Yarmuk; and the ground 
now becoming broken, we left the plain and soon arrived 
at Turra, a small village, the houses of which are all 
underground. It poured with rain, and our people 
would have much liked to stop here ; but, as it was im- 
possible to pass the night in such a miserable place, we 
decided on pushing on to Howara, which village we were 
given to understand was only about an hour further off, 
but which it took us nearly four hours to reach. 

Just beyond Turra we passed the grave of a sheikh of 
the family of Ibn Freikh of Berekat, who four years ago 
was killed here in battle by the Beni-Sakhr. We now 
reached the edge of the ravine know T n as Wady esh-Shel- 
laleh — the River of the Cataract, — by which the waters of 
the north-eastern side of Mount Gilead find their v* ay into 
the Yarmuk. It is a large and deep ravine, the descent 
into which from the plain on either side is so abrupt, that 
it is often unperceived till one is close to the edge ; and 
into it the river precipitates itself by a fall, or succession 
of rapids, of considerable height, whence it has obtained 
its name. In its main features Wady Shellaleh resem- 
bles the ravine of the Grroide Riviere in Mauritius ; and 
my husband tells me that this is the general character of 
the rivers of Eastern Africa falling into the Nile. 

R % 



244 



Jacob's flight. 



After reaching the bed of Wacly Shellaleh, which we 
did at half-past five in the evening, we continued our 
road up the stream, crossing it repeatedly. This part 
of our journey was rather difficult and tedious, so that 
it was already dark before we were out of the ravine. I 
hardly know how we should have found our way, had 
not the rain ceased before we got down to the bed of the 
stream ; and while we were there the moon, though 
only four days old and mostly obscured by clouds, still 
shone out from time to time sufficiently to enable us to 
pick our way through the rocks, reeds, and brushwood. 

It was fortunate, however, that the evening was not 
brighter ; for in the valley we passed near to an encamp- 
ment of the Beni-Sakhr Arabs, and on the mountains 
above us we saw the fires of another encampment. Had 
they perceived us, they would assuredly not have allowed 
us to pass unquestioned. It is true we had letters from 
Consul Rogers to the sheikhs of the three divisions of 
this powerful tribe, so that we were not likely to come 
to any great harm ; but we were better pleased at not 
having occasion to produce those letters, as it is most 
probable we should have been delayed, and quite certain 
we should have had to fraternize with them,— to form 
khuweh or brotherhood, as it is called, which means no- 
thing more nor less than paying them blackmail for their 
protection, or rather for permission to pass unmolested 
through their country. During our progress, therefore, 
along Wady Shellaleh, we used every precaution against 



FROM ESHMISKXN TO MOUNT GILEAD. 245 

making a noise, so as not to attract the attention of the 
Arabs. 

When we first spoke with Mr. Bogers and Mr. Wad- 
dington about our journey, the latter was of opinion 
that at the doubtful part of it, wherever that might 
happen to be, a night-march would be advisable. With- 
out any premeditation, and in fact without being con- 
scious of it till it was almost over, we had here, curiously 
enough, followed out the plan suggested by Mr. Wad- 
ding ton. On the other hand, this night-march caused 
us unfortunately to miss seeing the remains of the 
Kanatir Fir' on or Pharaoh's Bridges, of which I have 
already spoken. Dr. Wetzstein had particularly wished 
us to see this interesting ancient structure, and it was 
with this view that he directed us to go by Turra and 
down into Wady Shellaleh, instead of continuing our 
route along the plain and round the head of the ravine. 

Continuing about three-quarters of an hour over the 
plain, after emerging from Wacly Shellaleh, we were glad 
enough to reach Howara, which we did at a quarter-past 
seven in the evening, very weary and very cold. We found 
it to be a miserable place, its houses, like those of Turra, 
being mostly underground; and what accommodation 
there might have been was already forestalled by a party 
of soldiers ; so that we were thankful to be told by Abu 
Salim, that he had found a suitable dry spot outside the 
village, on which to encamp for the night. Before the 
tents were pitched, Abu Salim, in his character of the 



246 



Jacob's flight. 



English Consul's kawass, sent an order to the sheikh of 
the village to bring firewood, water, and other neces- 
saries for our use. Em in Pasha's huyuruldi was also 
produced, in order to make the soldiers find room for 
our mules. 

But while our dragoman was thus sedulously en- 
gaged, a change came o'er the spirit of his dream, and 
my husband was dubbed by him Hakim-bashi, or chief 
physician, to Fuad Pasha, with Abu Salim as his ka- 
wass. As long as my husband was merely styled Bek 
and Consul, he said nothing, these being mere compli- 
mentary epithets, like Khawaja ; but now that a spe- 
cific title like this was attributed to him, he felt him- 
self called on to remonstrate. But Abu Salim begged 
that he would not interfere with what did not concern 
him. It was his business, he said, to make all suitable 
arrangements for our journey, and if these were left to 
him he would be responsible for the consequences, but 
not otherwise. So, with the example of the author of 
c Eothen' before us, we thought it best to submit in silence 
to all the honours that might be heaped upon us. 

At first we felt very cold in our tent, but a fire was 
soon lighted in it, and by the time we had dined it was 
tolerably warm and very comfortable. This was the 
first time we had been able to pitch our tent ; and it was 
a great relief to me to be alone and free from the inces- 
sant importunity of the natives. We were also very 
much cleaner than we had been in the villages. During 



FROM ESHMISKIN TO MOUNT GTLEAD. 247 

the last two nights we had been most wretchedly tor- 
mented by the fleas, so much so that I could not get a 
wink of sleep. I therefore desired Abu Salim to shake 
and beat all the clothes outside the tent before making 
our bed up ; and the good effects of his doing so were 
experienced by us in a comfortable night's rest. 

Sunday, January 5th. — It was a lovely morning. Our 
people, notwithstanding their hard day's work yesterday, 
were in good humour, as were we ourselves. We did 
not at all hurry them, because we intended to make 
but a short day of it — a Sabbath-day's journey, in fact. 
We started about half-past nine. Not knowing pre- 
cisely the position of Howara, in consequence of its not 
being correctly placed in the maps, we could not tell 
how far we should have to go, but we thought we might 
perhaps be able to reach Ain Jenneh. 

On the way we inquired about the Kanatir Fir' on, 
but could learn nothing more than we already knew. 
Abu Salim wished, however, to correct the notion enter- 
tained by my husband that this aqueduct was built to 
carry water to Mukes. He said he must mean to below 
Mukes ; for, as that town stands on a mountain, the 
water could not possibly be made to run to it up-hill. 
This was most philosophical, and in appearance incon- 
trovertible. Viewed from the valley of the Jordan or 
from Palestine, Mukes is unquestionably on a mountain ; 
but the fact is, that this " mountain " is nothing more 
nor less than the edge of the higher table-land behind 



248 



Jacob's flight. 



it, over the surface of which there is a sufficient fall for 
the construction of the aqueduct. 

Passing the village of Sarihh on our left, which, like 
Howara, is built underground, we arrived in about an 
hour at El Hosn, a village conspicuously placed on the 
summit of a tell, or conical hill. Its inhabitants are 
principally Christians of the Greek Church, of whom 
there are forty families. The sheikh is, however, a Mo- 
hammedan. We saw women here with their arms and 
faces tattooed, a custom we had not noticed anywhere 
else. We also observed at El Hosn, as in several other 
places, immense holes or caverns underground, used by 
the inhabitants as granaries and places of refuge against 
the Beduins. The mouth is small, but they are deep 
and of great extent. 

At El Hosn we took a Christian guide, with whom 
we now began ascending the mountain in a south-west- 
erly direction, the whole ground being full of springs. 
We were in fact ascending the side of Jebel Ajlun or 
Mount Gilead, which may be considered as commen- 
cing from Wady Shellaleh, most of the sources of that 
river being in its sides. Behind us was a fine view of 
the extensive plains of the Nukra, of which the beau- 
tifully cultivated ground showed in the bright sunshine 
patches of various colours. 

In about half an hour after leaving El Hosn we came 
to a lovely little rivulet, running briskly down the moun- 
tain-side. It was the first clear water fit to drink that 



FROM ESHMISKIN TO MOUNT GILEAD. 249 

we had seen since we left Damascus, and with one accord 
we stopped to drink : in fact we all made a rush at it, 
our animals not less eagerly than our attendants and 
ourselves; each scrambling to get the first draught, before 
the deliciously cool water, sparkling in the sun, should 
be rendered turbid by the others. A few minutes more 
brought us to the summit of Gilead, where our eyes 
were gladdened by a sight of what is probably to Chris- 
tians the most interesting portion of the Promised Land. 
The conspicuous cone of Mount Tabor, the supposed 
site of the Transfiguration, was at once identified by our 
attendants ; and then Nazareth, Cana, Tiberias, and the 
other places of our Saviour's miracles and teaching were 
eagerly pointed out to us. We paused in silent admira- 
tion of this most interesting and affecting scene, with 
hearts full of thankfulness for having been permitted to 
reach this spot in safety to behold it. To be in such 
a position commanding a view of all these memorable 
places, far more than repaid us for all the trouble and 
expense and perils of our journey; but above all, we felt 
that the object of the journey itself was accomplished, 
and this too in a way that realized in the fullest degree 
my husband's anticipations. 

When the patriarch Jacob was overtaken by his father- 
in-law Laban, it is manifest that his resting-place on the 
summit of Gilead, where he "pitched bis tent in the 
mount/' must have been somewhere in this neighbour- 
hood, possessing the advantages of a plentiful supply of 



250 



Jacob's flight. 



water and good pasturage for his numerous flocks and 
herds; such, in fact, as are to be found at the place 
where we thus stopped to drink, and — what is of more 
importance — such as could not have been met with 
previously on the road ; so that the general position of 
the patriarch's halting-place may be regarded as abso- 
lutely determined. And as further it is written that 
" early in the morning Laban rose up and . . . departed, 
and returned unto his place, and Jacob went on his way; 
and the angels of God met him ; and when Jacob saw 
them, he said, This is God's host, and he called the 
name of that place Mahanaim ;" — it may not unreason- 
ably be imagined that here on the brow of the mountain, 
where the Promised Land is first descried, or at some 
spot of a similar character not far distant, was the place 
of the patriarch's mysterious encounter. 

In the ' Handbook for Syria and Palestine' it is stated 
that " about three hours north of Suf is a ruin called 
Mahneh, which may perhaps occupy the site of the Ma- 
hanaim of Scripture." From the incorrectness of the 
map accompanying that work, we could not, while on 
our journey, at all make out, when here, that we were 
near this ruin called Mahneh ; but, on my husband's lay- 
ing down our route since our return to England, it seems 
to him that Mahneh cannot be far — apparently not more 
than three or four miles— distant from the place which, 
when on the spot, he conjectured might be Mahanaim. 
What confirms him in this opinion is the conviction that 



FROM ESHMISKIN TO MOUNT GILEAD. 251 



when we turned off westward, by Turra, to go down into 
Wady Shellaleh, we left the route pursued by the patri- 
arch Jacob ; who certainly would never have driven his 
flocks and herds into that broken and difficult country, 
but would have continued his course southward over the 
plain, straight in the direction of Mount Gilead. By 
following such a course, he must have ascended the side 
of the mountain a few miles to the southward of the 
road taken by ourselves, and would thus have struck 
the summit of the ridge precisely at Mahneh or Ma- 
li anaim. 

What the prospect may be from M ah anaim, I cannot 
pretend to say ; but the following description is given in 
the c Handbook \ of the noble view that is to be obtained 
from the old castle of Rabbad, in Wady Ajlun, about 
halfway up the side of the mountain, right on the way 
to Mahanaim. From that spot, " nearly the whole valley 
of the Jordan, with the Lake of Tiberias at the one end 
and the Dead Sea at the other, is laid open before us. 
Beyond it is the mountain range of Palestine, sinking 
down into the broad plain of Esdraelon on the north ; 
further to the right is the graceful cone of Tabor, and 
the hills of Galilee behind, rising gradually up into the 
great chain of Lebanon. Turning to the north, the view 
is only shut in by the lofty snow-tipped summit of Her- 
mon." This view, it will be perceived, is far more com- 
prehensive than the one seen by ourselves from the spot 
where we crossed the summit of Gilead ; and Mahanaim, 



252 



Jacob's flight. 



which is in a direct line above Kellat-er-Rabbad, as 
viewed from Bethel, ought to command the same view ; 
or rather, as that castle is only about halfway up the 
mountain, the prospect from Mahanaim ought to be far 
more extensive, embracing probably the whole of the Pro- 
mised Land — a most fitting sight to greet the wanderer 
after his long absence from the country of his birth. 

In order more fully to illustrate this subject, it is re- 
quisite to bring under consideration the journey which, 
twenty years previously, the patriarch Jacob had taken 
when he " went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward 
Harran." Respecting this journey we read, that on the 
way Jacob "lighted upon a certain place, and tarried 
there all night, because the sun was set ; and he took of 
the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, 
and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, 
and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of 
it reached to heaven ; and behold the angels of God as- 
cending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord 
stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abra- 
ham thy father, and the God of Isaac : the land whereon 
thou liest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed. And 
thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt 
spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the 
north, and to the south ; and in thy seed shall all the 
families of the earth be blessed. . . . And behold, I am with 
thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, 
and will bring thee again into this land ; for I will not 



PROM ESHMISKIN TO MOUNT GILEAD. 



253 



leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken 
to thee of. And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he 
said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. 
And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place ! 
This is none other but the house of God, and this is the 
gate of heaven. And Jacob rose up early in the morn- 
ing, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, 
and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top 
of it. And he called the name of that place Beth-el ; 
but the name of that city w^as called Luz at the first. 
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, 
and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me 
bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again 
to my father's house in peace ; then shall the Lord 
be my God : and this stone, which I have set up for a 
pillar shall be God's house; and of all that thou shalt 
give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee. Then 
Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the 
people of the east." 

The land into which the fugitive thus came after leav- 
ing Beth-el, is that of "the sons of the concubines which 
Abraham had, . . . and sent away . . . eastward unto 
the east country;" — the country of Job, who "was the 
greatest of all the men of the east;" — and the country 
of Balaam, who came "out of the mountains of the east " 
to curse Israel: — that is to say, in general terms, the 
entire country beyond Jordan to the eastward. And the 
reasonable construction of the statement in the text, that 



254 



Jacob's flight. 



"then" — that is to say, on his departure from Beth-el 
— " Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land 
of the people of the east/' is, that Beth-el was that point 
in the fugitive's journey, at which he ceased to go north- 
wards on the road previously travelled by Abraham and 
by Eliezer, and that thence he turned eastward and 
crossed over the Jordan. 

The conclusion that Jacob did really leave the land of 
Canaan by the way of Mount Gilead, instead of continu- 
ing northward to Shechem by the road used by Abraham 
and Eliezer, is corroborated by the consideration of the 
remarkable view from Beth-el and its immediate vici- 
nity. In Dr. Smith's ' Dictionary of the Bible' it is 
said, When on the spot little doubt can be felt as to 
the localities of this interesting place. ... As the eye 
turns involuntarily eastward, it takes in a large part of 
the plain of the Jordan opposite Jericho; distant, it is 
true, but not too distant to discern in that clear atmo- 
sphere the lines of verdure that mark the brooks, which 
descend from the mountains beyond the river, and ferti- 
lize the plain even in its present neglected state." Such 
is the general prospect from Beth-el and its vicinity. 
But there is a particular view from Taiyibah, at a short 
distance east of that place, which is especially deserving 
of notice. It is thus graphically described in Murray's 
' Handbook :' — " The whole eastern declivities of Ben- 
jamin are here before us. . . . Away below is the long, 
deep valley of the Jordan. Beyond are the mountains 



FEOM ESHMISKIN TO MOUNT GILEAD. 255 

of Moab and Gilead. On the north-east a cleft is ob- 
served in the range, marking the course of Wady Zurka, 
the ancient Jabbok, the boundary between the kingdoms 
of Og and Sihon. And yonder, too, north of it, is the 
ravine of Ajlun, in which a clear eye will easily distin- 
guish the old fortress of Rubud, perched on a lofty crag, 
far up among the hills." 

If, then, at or near Beth-el, in the case of ordinary 
travellers under ordinary circumstances, the eye turns 
involuntarily eastward ; how wistfully and anxiously must 
that of the fugitive Jacob have been directed to those 
" mountains of the east," and with what excited feelings 
must he have gazed on the magnificent view thus por- 
trayed ! — especially as it was late in the day when he 
approached Beth-el, and the rays of the setting sun 
would have lighted up the mountain -summits of Gilead, 
rendering all their salient points distinctly visible and 
more strongly marked ; and perhaps then, as now, was 
seen a Mizpeh — " beacon" or " watch-tower " — perched 
on a lofty crag, and commanding, like the old fortress 
of Rabbad (Rubud), a panorama of the entire Land of 
Promise, from Dan to Beer-sheba. 

Arriving late at Beth-el, Jacob had to " tarry there 
all night, because the sun was set ;" and it can easily be 
conceived — for who has not experienced the like ? — that 
as " he lay down in that place to sleep," the impressive 
view of the evening should have blended itself with the 
vision of the night ; so that, when in his dream he saw 



256 



JACOB* S FLIGHT. 



" a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached 
to heaven/* that ladder appeared to the sleeper as if ex- 
tending from the edge of the deep valley of the Jordan 
up the mountain- side of Gilead, along the deeply marked 
line of the ravine of Ajliin ; and ™ the angels of God as- 
cending and descending on it," seemed to point out to 
the wearied fugitive the way by which he was not only 
to go, but likewise to return ; whilst " above it," — that 
is to say, at Mahanaim, the spot at the summit of Mount 
Gilead, at which, on his way back from Padan Aram, 
the angels of God were afterwards to meet him, as if to 
greet him on his return home : at this very spot — <c the 
Lord stood and said " to him, in his sleep, the myste- 
rious and cheering words, which not only founded Israel 
as a nation, but promised that in the fulness of time in 
him and in his seed should all the families of the earth 
be blessed. 

The connection and correspondence between Beth-el 
and Mahanaim thus suggested, may, it is hoped, afford 
material aid in the elucidation of the two important pas- 
sages of Scripture, contained in the twenty-eighth and 
thirty-second chapters of the Book of Genesis. 



CHAPTER XV. 



EKOM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEFRENJI. 

If we were rejoiced at having reached the summit of 
Mount Gilead, our people were not less so. One of the 
muleteers was a native of Safety which place we could 
plainly see where we stood ; so that he was, so to say, at 
home. But I question whether Abu Salim was not the 
best pleased of all. His journey from Damascus, through 
a country absolutely unknown to him, must have been 
frightfully trying, and he could not but have been most 
heartily glad at its coming to an end. It is true that 
he had never before been at the precise spot where we 
now were, but he could see where he was, and knew that 
he was in the immediate neighbourhood of places he had 
often visited ; so that he was at length in the proper 
field of his labours as an experienced guide and inter- 
preter to European travellers in the Holy Land. 

After having surfeited ourselves with the view of the 
scene before us, we proceeded on our journey, always 
slightly ascending; and as we did so, the mountains in 



258 



Jacob's flight. 



the north of Palestine opened on us by degrees, whilst 
on the other hand the prospect gradually closed in to- 
wards the south. Shortly before reaching the col, we 
passed close to our right a lovely little circular lake, 
with a rivulet running out of it towards the north, and 
beyond it a single terebinthine tree. The ground now 
became covered with stones, with several rude heaps of 
them standing about ; and we began descending a wady, 
apparently the bed of one of the head-streams of Wady 
Yabes, which falls into the Jordan. The country here 
was very beautiful, affording fine pasturage to numerous 
flocks of sheep. At this season of the year they were 
those of the villagers ; in the summer the Beni-Sakhr 
Arabs come here with theirs. Trees also began to be 
more plentiful, and we met several peasants with don- 
keys laden with wood, which they were taking down to 
the plains for sale. Here we stopped to lunch. This 
being the Christmas Eve of the Greek Church, our guide 
was fasting and could not take his meal with us ; but we 
gave him a piece of dry bread, which, as a traveller, it 
was lawful for him to eat. 

After lunching, we began ascending the mountain on 
the other side of the wady, when we were astonished by 
the sight of a cromlech, the very picture of Kit's-Coity- 
House, which I had been to see only a few months pre- 
viously, when we attended the meeting at Maidstone of 
our Kent Archaeological Society. It is formed of rough 
unhe wn stones, the top stone being about eight feet long, 



FROM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEFKENJI. 



259 



six feet broad, and rather more than one foot thick, very 
irregular above, but flat on the inside, with its lower 
face about three feet three inches from the ground. The 
three upright stones are quite polished on the inside 
from rubbing, whether by animals or by human beings I 
cannot say. It faces nearly north, and the stone at the 
back is so placed as to leave a recess behind it, about 
one-third as deep as that in front. It stands on the 
rugged side of the mountain, which is covered with 
rough stones of no very large size."* 

Whilst we were examining the cromlech, we were ac- 
costed by a Turkish officer on horseback, with a bashi- 
buzuk attending him, who was on his way to the neigh- 
bouring village of Mezar. He came up and saluted us 
very politely, and asked if he could assist us in any way, 
telling us also where he was going. We thanked him 
for his politeness, and said we were ourselves going on 
to the same place. We then remounted and proceeded, 
the sides of the mountain being now covered with oaks 
and olives ; and continuing down a well-wooded valley 
leading to the Ghor, we again obtained a view of the 
Promised Land. We now ascended southward, ap- 
proaching a tell on our right, in which were several 

* The ' Athenaeum,' of June 25th, 1864, contains a letter from Mr. D. 
Koberton Blaine, describing a considerable number of similar cromlechs 
discovered bj him at Jumha and at Kerr el Job, on the road between 
Gadara and Jerash : consequently at no great distance from the ne 
seen by us. 

S 2 



260 



Jacob's flight. 



circular holes leading into cavities below, like those al- 
ready described, and on the summit of which was Mezar. 
Without going up to the village, we stopped at the foot 
of the hill, where our Christian guide took leave of us ; 
and while Abu Salim went up to the village for another, 
we rode slowly along the road to Jerash, which here 
turned off to the left. 

We had not however proceeded far, when our drago- 
man came galloping down the hill, calling upon us to 
stop ; and when he reached us, he was in such a state of 
excitement, and so out of breath, that he had some dif- 
ficulty in telling us that Hammed (Mohammed Emin) 
Beg, the Mutsellim or Governor of Jebel Ajlun, was in 
the village, and, having heard our request to the sheikh 
for a guide, had taken on himself to forward us on our 
journey, saying it was not safe for us to travel alone. 
While our dragoman was imparting to us this agree- 
able intelligence, the Mutsellim himself, whom he had 
found just on the point of starting for the neighbour- 
ing village of Tibneh, came down the hill attended by 
a numerous suite. 

He was a very handsome young Turk,— a native of 
Thessaly, I believe, — rode a splendid bay horse, and 
seemed magnificently dressed ; but he was so completely 
covered up in a large silk abba or cloak, embroidered in 
gold and silver, that the details of his garments were 
not to be seen. Over his head he wore a white silk 
kefiya, also worked with silver. His saddle-cloth was 



FROM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEFRENJI. 



261 



one mass of gold embroidery. Many of his attendants 
were very handsomely dressed, and in fact the whole ca- 
valcade was a grand and imposing sight. Hammed Beg 
rode down to us at full speed, pulling up his horse 
sharply in front of us; and, saluting us in the most 
courteous manner, he offered us his protection. On 
being informed of our intended route, he ordered a cou- 
ple of bashi-buziiks to accompany us to Ain Jenneh and 
Kefrenji, to which latter place he said he was himself 
going on the following day ; adding, that on his arrival 
there he would see us again, and personally make ar- 
rangements for forwarding us in safety across the Jordan 
to Nablus. While the Mutsellim was thus conversing 
with us, his suite drew up in a circle round us; and 
after we had thanked him for his very great kindness 
and attention, he saluted us and galloped off; and they 
all followed his example, leaving with us the two soldiers 
who were to be our escort. 

We had thought of being able to sleep this evening 
at Ain J enneh, but when we heard that it was as much 
as four hours' journey distant, we at once determined on 
remaining at Mezar. We therefore ascended the tell, 
but, without entering into the village, we pitched our 
tents a little way outside. It was a delightful spot and 
admirably well chosen, commanding on the one side an 
extensive view over the whole of Galilee, and on the 
other side almost as extensive a prospect of the plains of 
Hauran. Hermon was also visible, and beyond it to the 



282 



Jacob's flight. 



left the southern portion of Lebanon above Sidon, like 
it white with snow. Our tent was pitched just under a 
large olive-tree, to which some of the ropes were at- 
tached, a precaution which we found far from useless 
during the night. Close beside our tent was a small cir- 
cular lake or pond full of water. The day was a splendid 
one : that of our first journey to Harran was fine, but 
this was incomparably better. The sun was actually 
hot ; and we quite revelled in it, for we had not felt it 
so warm since we left Alexandria. After we had looked 
about us a little, we went into the tent to take coffee, 
and then to read our prayers. Afterwards we sat, like 
the patriarch Abraham, in the door of the tent ; and, as 
evening came on, we watched the men of the village 
performing their ablutions and saying their prayers by 
the water, and the cattle coming up to drink, the whole 
forming a most interesting scene. 

Whilst thus sitting in the door of our tent, my hus- 
band referred to two passages, which he had copied into 
his note-book shortly before our departure from Eng- 
land. The one was from the Bishop of Columbia's 
' Diary/ thus describing his resting at Cayoosh in July, 
1861: — cc The morning was very hot, and the only re- 
fuge and that but slight from the heat, and where most 
air could be got, was my tent-door. I sat in the tent- 
door in the heat of the day. So did Abraham in a 
strange land, far from the place of his birth/' The 
other passage was from Mr, Melly's work, r Khartoum 



FROM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEFRENJI. 263 



and the Blue and White Niles/ in which, after descri- 
bing the death of his father at Girgee, he says : — " Like 
Abraham in similar circumstances, we sent to the chiefs 
of the village to request a place in their cemetery : ex- 
pressing their sympathy, they considerately desired us 
to take our choice, and then guided us to the spot." 

Here we have instances of three civilized Europeans, 
while sojourning in a foreign land, comparing them- 
selves to the patriarch Abraham. "Why then should the 
patriarch be likened — as is the fashion of the present 
age — to a filthy Beduin sheikh, rather than to a civilized 
Oriental of rank and education ? When the history of 
Terah and his family is considered free from all precon- 
ceived notions, it will be perceived how entirely un- 
founded is the prevailing opinion respecting the state of 
society in the patriarchal ages. 

Terah himself was clearly no " wandering sheikh 
for, whatever may have been the cause of his removal 
from Ur-Casdim into Aram Naharaim, it is certain that 
he at once settled down in the latter country, and took 
up his permanent residence at Harran, where his de- 
scendants remained fixed as townsmen during upwards 
of two centuries, Jacob having found Laban dwelling 
within the very city that his grandfather Abraham, 
Terah' s son, had quitted. 

When Lot, Terah' s grandson, separated from his un- 
cle Abraham, whom he had accompanied into Canaan, 
he soon left off the latter' s assumed wandering life, and, 



264 



Jacob's flight. 



* relapsing into the habits of his family, settled down and 
dwelled in the cities of the plain; and the marked con- 
trast between the different modes of life of Abraham 
and his renegade nephew, is shown in the description of 
the visit they each received from, and the reception they 
respectively gave to, the messengers of Jehovah. Abra- 
ham, we are told, ec sat in the tent door in the heat of 
the day and he said, "Let a little water, I pray you, 
be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under 
the tree." Lot, on the contrary, " sat in the gate of 
Sodom ; . . . and he said . . . Turn in, I pray you, into 
your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your 
feet." 

The indisputable truth is, that Abraham, like his fa- 
ther Terah, was neither a Beduin Arab nor a nomade, 
but a Shemitish townsman, possessing, before he re- 
moved into Canaan, a fixed residence within the city of 
Harran; and the wandering mode of life of himself and 
his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, instead of being in 
accordance with the ordinary state of society, was a 
marked and deliberately intentional exception. And 
that the posterity of Jacob at a later period, when they 
had escaped out of the house of bondage, did not, even 
during their forty years' wanderings in the Arabian De- 
sert, acquire nomadic habits, is established by the fact 
that, on their conquest of the various cities of the 
Canaanites, they at once occupied those cities and cul- 
tivated the soil, as had been ordained to them through 



FEOM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEFEENJI. 



265 



their great lawgiver long before they acquired possession 
of the Promised Land. 

Let the wild Beduins of the present day (to w T hom the 
patriarchs have been likened) be required to leave their 
tents and dwell within the walls of a town, or to become 
the cultivators of the soil ; and, like the descendants of 
Jonadab the son of Rechab, the Kenite, no persuasion, 
no bribe, would induce them to do so. And this is true 
not only of the Beduins of the Arabian and Syrian 
Deserts, but of all nomadic people, whatever quarter of 
the globe they may inhabit; who look down with con- 
tempt and even abhorrence on the cultivation of the 
soil, regarding it as a fit occupation for slaves or serfs, 
but totally unbecoming free men. 

The description of Kirjath-arba or Hebron, the city 
of the children of Heth, and of Shalem, that of the Hi- 
vites, shows not less plainly that the Canaanites, like the 
inhabitants of the cities of the plain, were far from re- 
sembling the Beduin Arabs of the present day. And, in 
like manner, evidence of the high social condition of the 
primitive inhabitants of the countries east of Jordan, 
is afforded by the " threescore cities, all the region of 
Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan . . . fenced with 
high walls, gates, and bars, beside unwalled towns a 
great many." 

Nothing shall be said here of the faith by which 
" Abraham, when he was called to go into a place which 
he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed ; and 



266 



Jacob's flight. 



he went out, not knowing whither he went." It is suf- 
ficient to regard the patriarch's emigration from Chaldea 
into Aram, and thence into Canaan, simply as an his- 
torical fact ; and it certainly does appear that he may more 
fitly be compared to an English gentleman removing 
first to the Cape of Good Hope and then to Australia, 
and there becoming a large sheep-farmer, than to a wild 
wandering Beduin sheikh of the Desert. 

Mr. Kinglake, in his ' History of the Crimean War/ 
says that the French military are accustomed to give to 
the Parisians the contemptuous designation of Beduins, 
in order that, in the event of an insurrection, the soldiers 
may be prepared to treat the citizens with as little con- 
sideration as if they actually were Beduins ; in the same 
way as an Irish Roman Catholic prelate once, by pro- 
nouncing Protestants to be " vermin/' exposed them to 
the sudden death which is the lot of vermin everywhere: 
and there can be no doubt that the most effectual way 
to bring the holy men of early Scripture history into 
disrepute, is to liken them to Beduins of the present 
day. It is much to be deplored that Mr. Herbert, in 
his magnificent picture in the House of Lords of Moses 
bringing down the Tables of the Law from Mount Sinai, 
should have represented the Israelites as a band of rude 
Beduins, for which there is not a shadow of authority 
in the text of Scripture.* 

# Dr. Beke's views respecting the primitive condition of mankind, 
and the rise and progress of society, are given in the Appendix to the 
present work. 



FEOM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEERENJI. 



267 



The spot we were now at I imagine to be the hill 
Mizar of Psalm xlii. 5 : — " O my God, my soul is cast 
down within me : therefore will I remember thee from 
the land of Jordan, and from the Hernionites, from the 
hill Mizar." My husband makes the elevation of this 
spot to be 2200 feet above the ocean : adding to this 
the depression of the valley of the Jordan, Mezar must 
have an apparent height of more than 3000 feet, which 
would make it, though small, a commanding object from 
the opposite side of the river. 

At Mezar we passed altogether a most delightful day. 
We felt ourselves here to be already within the Promised 
Land, and so likewise must the Two Tribes and a Half 
beyond Jordan have felt themselves ; for all the sights 
we saw here were as familiar to them as to their bre- 
thren within the Land of Canaan. It was not the river 
Jordan, but the ridge of Mount Gilead, that formed the 
natural boundary of the possessions of the children of 
Israel. Viewed in this light, the covenant between Ja- 
cob and Laban, at Mizpeh on the summit of Gilead, 
acquires a peculiar significance i — " This heap be witness, 
and this pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this 
heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap 
and this pillar unto me for harm/' At the same time, 
it is positively certain, from the physical character of 
the country lying on the eastern side of the ridge of 
Gilead, that a people like the Israelites could never have 
made any permanent settlement there. 



268 



Jacob's flight. 



After sundown the wind rose and blew very strong. 
We feared that rain was coming, but it was only the 
warm air of the Ghor rushing upwards. During the 
night it sounded so exactly like rain, that we could not 
convince ourselves it was not pouring hard, till we looked 
out and saw the stars shining brightly. In fact, it was 
a lovely night overhead ; but the wind from below was 
so violent, that it threatened to tear our tent to pieces, 
and it would assuredly have capsized it, had it not been 
so well secured to the tree. 

Monday January 6th (Twelfth Day). — We were up 
very early this morning, and enjoyed a magnificently 
clear view of the morning sun shining on the snows of 
Hermon and Lebanon. This tent-life is far preferable 
to passing the night in the villages : in fact, moving 
from place to place through such a country is to my 
mind most agreeable, and far more enjoyable than living 
in houses and cities. There is even a saving of time on 
the journey; as, although the tents themselves have to 
be taken down and packed, this has the effect of obliging 
us to be up and dressed all the earlier ; for the tents are 
unceremoniously pulled down over our heads. But when 
once they are down and the things packed, there is no 
carrying of them outside, and sometimes to a consider- 
able distance, to be placed on the mules' backs. In- 
stead of this, the animals are brought up to their loads, 
which are at once lifted on them, and off they go, ge- 
nerally with a run as soon as the things are thrown 



FROM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEFKENJI. 



269 



on their backs, as a means of adjusting the load, I sup- 
pose. 

We started soon after eight o'clock, passing through 
a country covered with oaks of two species,"* one of 
which is evergreen ; our course being through an undu- 
lating country, but gradually ascending. The difference 
between the eastern and western sides of Mount Gilead 
is most remarkable, the latter being as well wooded as 
the former is destitute of trees. The beauty of the 
country, together with its excellent pasturage, renders 
intelligible the desire of the two tribes of Reuben and 
Gad, with the half-tribe of Manasseh, to possess it for 
their numerous flocks and herds; whilst the mast of its 
oaks must at all times have made it a country peculiarly 
adapted for swine. Only a few miles below us was " the 
country of the Gadarenes, w 7 hich is over against Gali- 
lee/' where was the "herd of many swine feeding on 
the mountain/' which " ran violently down a steep place 
into the lake." 

The ground over which we rode was full of springs, 
and we passed numerous beautiful rivulets prattling 
along their rocky beds and sparkling in the bright sun, 
with several charmingly secluded lakes in hollows covered 
with the finest grass, and shut in on all sides by mag- 
nificent oaks. I can only compare the scenery to that 
of some of the retired spots in our large English parks • 
though I doubt whether I ever saw any of them half so 
# Quercus infectoria and Quercus pseudo-coccifera. 



270 Jacob's plight. 

beautiful as these we saw here. The trees were now 
beginning to lose their leaves, and the various tints of 
brown and yellow were most pleasing to the eye. From 
some of the oak-trees we picked some immense gall- 
nuts, full an inch and a half across. Occasionally as we 
emerged from the clumps of oaks by which our road was 
overshadowed, we had glimpses of Hermon and the 
mountains of Galilee, as also of those above the plain of 
Esdraelon, Jezreel, or Megiddo. 

Beautiful as this country is, it is incessantly exposed 
to the inroads of the Beduins. The Beni-Sakhr and 
Aduan are those tribes whose depredations are the most 
frequent, and on our road to-day we passed the graves 
of two sheikhs of the once-famous tribe of Berekat, re- 
cently slain in battle with the latter. The Mutsellim 
is now in pursuit of the Aduan, but is unable to come 
up with them. The Turkish Government is using every 
means to weaken the Arabs. Last year they took three 
sheikhs of the'Anezeh, who unfortunately died in prison, 
in spite of all the care taken of them. There is little 
doubt of their having been slowly poisoned ; for it would 
not have done to put them to death openly, as this would 
have occasioned a blood-feud. 

About two hours and a half after our departure from 
Mezar, we came to where the road to Suf and Jerash 
branches off from that to Ain-Jenneh, it being two hours 
to Suf, and two more to Jerash. We should have much 
liked to visit the ruins of the ancient Gerasa ; but it 



FEOM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEFRENJI. 



271 



was not within the scope of our journey, and besides it 
would not have been at all safe to go there just now, 
on account of the Arabs being in great force in that 
neighbourhood. In fact, when we saw the Mutsellim at 
Mezar, he imagined at first we were intending to go to 
Jerash, which caused him to say he would not have 
allowed us to attempt it, as even he could not protect us 
there. 

Our way, therefore, now proceeded towards Ain- 
Jenneh, along the eastern side of the main ridge, com- 
manding a magnificent view of the mountains of Hauran, 
and beyond them of the snowy summits of those of El 
Safa, which I could distinctly see with my glasses, to 
the surprise of my husband and myself. Behind us was 
the giant Hermon, so well deserving of its name of Jebel 
esh- Sheikh, visible everywhere, in like manner covered 
with snow ; and then, after a brief interval, we caught a 
glimpse of Tabor, with the mountains of Shechem and 
Gilboa, and again, to the west of the plain of Esdraelon 
and beyond it, the distant range of Carmel. 

Towards twelve o' clock we stopped to lunch in a most 
lovely spot, probably surpassing in beauty all we had yet 
seen. It was in a delightful meadow, on the bank of a 
small lake. Only a few minutes before reaching it, we 
had passed three smaller lakes; but our dragoman ap- 
pears to have pitched on this one on account of its ex- 
ceeding loveliness. I am bound to give Mikhail credit 
for his good taste in the selection of the resting-places 



272 



Jacob's plight. 



at which we take our lunch. All round us were low 
hills wooded to the summits, shutting out all distant 
prospect, except towards the west, where we had a sight 
of the mountains beyond Jordan. Around us, but not 
too near, were large flocks of goats, the shepherds keep- 
ing which were all armed with firelocks. We quite 
luxuriated here over our simple meal of bread and cheese 
and onions, which was all we had ; Mikhail having been 
able to get only a piece of kid for dinner at Mezar 
the night before, which had been all finished by our at- 
tendants : added to this a draught of the deliriously cool 
water of the lake, temperee with some very good wine 
made by our host Demetri at Damascus, — the " wine 
of Helbon,"— which we had brought on with us for the 
journey. It was upwards of half an hour before we 
could tear ourselves away from this enchanting spot. 

We now began descending awady in a south-westerly 
direction, and soon came in sight of Kellat-er-Rabbad, 
perched on an eminence. This castle, which has been 
visited and described by travellers in times past, is now 
rapidly falling into decay, like the once-powerful family 
of Berekat, its owners, now represented by the sheikhs 
of Kefrenji. Still descending the wady, we came to a 
large spring, bursting out from under the rocks, and 
forming at once a tolerably large rivulet. After cross- 
ing the stream we came a little lower down to another, 
larger than the first, which we crossed back again. The 
two together formed a considerable brook. This is 



FROM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEFKENJI, 273 

Ain- Jenneh, at the head of Wady Ajlun, the village of 
that name being situate a little higher up. We then 
proceeded rapidly down the banks of the stream, till we 
came to the village of Ajlun, which is in part troglodytic, 
and seems to have been formerly more extensive. The 
mosque has a tall but unsightly square tower, and be- 
hind it is seen in the distance the castle of Rabbad, 
most conspicuously placed on the summit of a lofty iso- 
lated mountain. 

I stopped here to take a photograph, and, while I was 
so engaged, two men on horseback approached from the 
valley below, one of whom dismounted, and, coming up 
to me, respectfully kissed my hand. He was Sheikh 
Diab ibn Freikh, the nephew (I believe) of Sheikh Dur- 
gan ibn Freikh of Berekat, sheikh of Kefrenji, or more 
properly sheikh of Ajliln, though his present residence 
is at the former place. His attendant was an Arab 
of the Ghor, though he was so black that he might have 
been taken for a Nubian. Diab informed us he had 
received orders from the Mutsellim, to meet us here 
and escort us down to Kefrenji. Placing ourselves 
therefore under his guidance, we at once crossed the 
river and descended the left bank, passing an aqueduct 
thrown over the stream on a single arch, so narrow as to 
be only sufficient to carry a small quantity of water for 
irrigation. We also crossed a tributary stream coming 
from the left, almost as large as the main stream itself, 
the name of which we did not ascertain. 

T 



274 



Jacob's flight. 



The whole way Sheikh Diab and his attendant amused 
themselves — or more probably intended to amuse us„ 
which they certainly did — by attacking one another in 
sham fight; the sheikh being armed with a sword, and 
his attendant having improvised a weapon by breaking 
a stout branch from an olive tree, which trees here take 
the place of the oaks. They attacked one another in 
the most furious manner, advancing and retreating at 
full gallop, checking their horses when at their greatest 
speed, and throwing them back on their haunches; and 
it was really wonderful to see them, while thus madly 
driving up and down the steep and rocky sides of the 
mountain, through the brushwood and round and among 
the trees, possessing the most perfect command over 
their horses, though with only a simple rope-halter over 
their heads, without either bit or snaffle. 

We here caught a glimpse for the first time, though 
indistinctly, of the mountains of Judsea; after which, 
leaving the bank of the river and ascending a little to 
the left, we arrived at Kefrenji at half-past three o'clock 
in the afternoon. In these parts, a village is placed 
on some prominent spot overlooking the surrounding 
country, so as to prevent surprises ; and, as a matter 
of course, the inhabitants were out on the house-tops 
watching our approach. We were hardly off our horses 
when they began to collect round us like a swarm of 
bees ; and, as soon as our tents were pitched, numbers 
of them sat at a little distance^ staring at all that was 



FROM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEFRENJI. 



275 



going on, and evidently expecting something extraordi- 
nary was about to happen. But, in fact, every move- 
ment was to them something novel and singular. It was 
like the Lord Mayor's show is to children — both great 
and small — among us ; only it may be questioned 
whether a party of European travellers, with all the ac- 
companiments of civilized life, are not far greater cu- 
riosities in this out-of-the-way place than Lord Mayors 
are among us at home. We were here shut up in a 
hollow, surrounded with mountains on every side, with 
no view, except of the venerable castle of Habbad, which 
however, is not seen to so much advantage from this 
place as from Ajlun. 

After a little while old Sheikh Durgan came to pay 
his respects. He no longer possesses the power of his 
ancestors, who were formerly the great men in Jebel 
Ajlun, but whose position has now been acquired by the 
sheikhs of Tibneh. Being under the protection of the 
Mutsellim, we did not deem it expedient to produce our 
letter to Sheikh Diab from the British Consul at Damas- 
cus; for it could not have made our recommendation 
stronger, and it might, on the other hand, have com- 
plicated matters. After the usual compliments had 
passed between us, we spoke about our journey, in the 
way of which both Durgan and Diab threw every sort 
of obstacle. They said that the Jordan was swollen 
by the late heavy rains, so as to be quite impassable, it 
being five or six fathoms deep. There was, besides, 

T % 



276 



Jacob's flight. 



no ford or bridge thereabouts; and the Beni Aduai:^ 
who are at enmity with this tribe, were on the river 
Zerka, so that we could not descend the Ghor, in order 
to cross the Jordan lower down. In fact, according to 
their representations, there was no course left for us but 
to go up northward to Jisr Mejamieh, near the Lake of 
Tiberias, and cross the river there. We did not at all 
like the idea of turning back from the route we had 
marked out for ourselves ; but what were we to do ? We 
proposed going straight down Wady Ajlun to the Jor- 
dan, and if we could not cross there, my husband thought 
there might be a passage at Jisr Damieh ; but they said 
this could not be ; for, not only is the bridge broken, but 
the Jordan has shifted its course, so that the bridge is 
no longer over the river ; besides which, that part of the 
Ghor was occupied by the Beni Aduan. Mortifying as 
all this was, we could not help hoping that the arri- 
val of the Mutsellim might free us from our difficulty ; 
but when the sun went down without our either seeing 
or hearing from him, we began to fear we should be 
left to provide for our own journey, unless, indeed, we 
chose to await his arrival, which might be delayed we 
could not tell how long. Orientals take no heed of 
time. Bukrah, inshallah ! to-morrow, please God !— an 
expression which is always on their lips, is little better 
than our English saying, To-morrow never comes. 

After considering our position from every point of 
view without being able to come to any positive deci- 



FROM MOUNT GILEAD TO KEFRENJI. 277 



sion, my husband and I sat down to dinner in a very 
desponding mood. All at once the scene changed. To our 
delight a messenger from the Mutsellim was announced. 
He was a relative of Sheikh Durgan, who had been up 
to the governor at Tibneh, and was now returned with a 
letter to my husband, one to the sheikh of Kefrenji, 
and another to Sheikh Sa'd, of the Mashalka Arabs en- 
camped in the Ghor. The letter to my husband was 
most courteous and obliging. The Mutsellim expressed 
his regret at not being able to come on from Tibneh 
to-day, as he had intended ; but he had sent orders that 
w 7 e should be forwarded on our journey in safety. To the 
sheikhs he was most peremptory. We were to be taken 
down to the Ghor, across the river, and on to Nahlus, 
without delay; and if any accident happened to us, or 
a particle of our property w r as lost, it would be on their 
heads ! But this was not all ; they were to take us 
wheresoever else we might please to go. If horses were 
lost in our service, they should be replaced, — and in fact 
everybody and everything w-as placed at our disposal. 
Nothing could be more wonderful than the change. It 
was not a mere deus ex machind : w T e could not but look 
on it in a much more serious and solemn light, our 
journey having been throughout so wonderfully favoured. 
All objections now ceased, and Sheikh Durgan expressed 
his readiness to escort us down into the Ghor early next 
morning. 

Of course all our misgivings now gave place to joy. 



278 



Jacob's flight. 



As to Abu Salim, his head seemed turned like that of 
Alnasher, the barber's fifth brother, in the Arabian 
Nights. Never was there a person with such a vivid 
imagination. I have already said that my husband had 
been declared to be head physician to Fu'ad Pasha : it 
was now asserted that I was taking views of the country 
for no less a personage than Abd-el-Mejid himself. He 
told us he had overheard a conversation, in which it 
was said that if we had not been under the protection of 
the Mutsellim, we should have had to pay dearly for our 
passage. We did not doubt that for an instant, and we 
went to rest for the night all the more happy and 
thankful for our great good fortune. 



279 



CHAPTER XVI. 

FROM KEFRENJT TO THE JORDAN, 

Tuesday, January 7th. — During the night we were 
annoyed by a numerous guard of men placed in front of 
our tent, where they sat round a large fire, amusing 
themselves by talking, singing, playing on a one-stringed 
fiddle, and making such a noise as effectually to pre- 
vent our sleeping. I got up several times and looked 
out of our tent-door, desiring them to leave off and be 
quiet, and Abu Salim repeated my orders; but it was 
not till four o'clock in the morning that they thought 
fit to do as I wished them. This was very amusing to 
them no doubt, though it was far from proving agreeable 
to us; but, as we heard in the morning that they had 
been placed there by the sheikh as a guard of honour, 
we should have been scarcely warranted in making a 
formal complaint. 

Just as our people began to load the mules, my horse 
unfortunately got loose and galloped off down the val- 
ley, whether intentionally let loose to delay us or not, 



280 



jaccb's flight. 



I will not take upon myself to say, but it is more than 
probable. My husband says that on his journey across 
the Dankali country, on his way to Shoa, whenever he 
heard in the morning that a camel was missing from the 
caravan he was accompanying, he knew it to be a sign 
that they were not going to travel that day ; as it was 
an excuse for the Has el Kafila, or chief of the caravan^, 
to send away half the people to look for the stray ani- 
mal, and meanwhile the rest refrained from going on 
with the loading. On the present occasion most of the 
inhabitants of the village went off after my horse, as it 
was famous fun for them ; and he for his part thoroughly 
enjoyed his liberty, and was too wide awake to let him- 
self be easily caught. After better than half an hour's 
chase, he was brought back to me by Sheikh DiaVs black 
servant, who had mounted a horse without saddle or 
bridle, with only a rope to guide it, and had succeeded 
very cleverly in catching him at last. Before we started, 
Sheikh Durgan came to take leave of us. He said he 
hoped we should speak favourably of him to the Gover- 
nor of Bey rout, and also to the Waly of Damascus, 
which we promised to do when we should see them. I 
rather expect the old fellow would not have been so 
humble, had we shown him our consul's letter. 

At half-past eight we were fairly en route, escorted 
by the two soldiers of the Mutsellim, Sheikh Diab, and 
the sheikh who had brought the Mutsellim's letters from 
Tibneh, and who went down to the Ghor to deliver to 



FROM KEFRENJI TO THE JORDAN. 



281 



Sheikh Sa'd the one addressed to him. The descent was 
at first very steep and winding, but the slope afterwards 
became more gradual. My husband and I, with one of our 
escort, stopped on the road to cut some noble branches 
of the evergreen oak, which we brought home and have 
since converted into walking-sticks. As we descended, 
the country became less wooded, the carob being the 
principal tree, with still a few stunted oaks and olives. 
The valley now opened out, showing rather a barren 
country, with the mountains on the opposite side of the 
Jordan presenting an appearance even less promising. 
We were here at some height above the stream of Wady 
Ajlun, which we plainly heard rattling along its bed be- 
low us to the right. A little further on we left the 
river, and about ten o'clock passed a small rivulet, with 
a pond swarming with frogs, the croaking of which, 
though not at all agreeable in itself, was pleasing from 
its novelty. 

Leaving the basin of Wady Ajliin, we began a sharp 
descent within that of Wady Rajib ; which stream my 
husband says, notwithstanding the assertion of the great 
geographer Carl Bitter, whose authority appears to have 
misled all geographers and chartographers, he finds to 
be altogether different from Wady Ajliin, it being neither 
identical with nor tributary to it, but having its own 
separate course to the Jordan. Passing the ruined city 
of Rajib, lying, as we were told, about an hour and 
half s journey to the left of our road, we came to the 



282 



Jacob's flight. 



brow of the mountain, where we had an extensive view 
over the plain of the Jordan as far as the Dead Sea. We 
could see nothing of the waters of that mysterious lake, 
but only the mist overhanging it, which however plainly 
showed us where it lay. A little further on, we passed 
close under the ruins of a fortress, built to defend the 
road, a toll having been formerly collected there from all 
passers-by. Here we looked out for the encampment 
of the Beduins to whom we were going, and though we 
could not see it, we were able to tell its position from 
the smoke of their fires. The descent down the valley 
of a tributary of Wady Rajib here became so sharp, that 
we had to dismount and walk, leading our horses, not 
only for the sake of comfort, but also for the safety of 
our necks. 

The sides of the valley here consist of gravel and 
rolled stones in layers, presenting the appearance of a 
sea-beach. From the comparative levels taken by my 
husband with the aneroid barometer between Kefrenji 
above and the Jordan below, he calculates that this spot 
is at an elevation slightly above the level of the ocean. 
At the time, then, when the communication between 
the valley of the Jordan and the Sea of Edom, now the 
Gulf of Akaba, had not been cut off by the uprising of 
the land, the waters of the Red Sea would have stood at 
nearly the height of the spot where we now were ; and 
consequently all the country between the mountains on 
either side up to that height would have been under 



FROM KEFRENJI TO THE JORDAN. 



283 



water. When we were subsequently in J erusalem, Mr. 
Consul Finn, to whom my husband spoke on the sub- 
ject, observed that a very distinctly marked horizontal 
line along the western side of the mountains of Moab, 
had always struck him as indicating the former sea-line. 
Of course such a state of things must have existed be- 
fore the historical period ; for we read that u Lot lifted 
up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan that it 
was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed 
Sodom and Gomorrah which proves that at that early 
period the Ghor was already formed. 

A liitle before noon we came into the valley of Wady 
Raj ib itself, where shortly afterwards we stopped to 
lunch by the side of an artificial canal, running along 
the right bank above the river. We had here a fine 
view of the mountains of Es-Salt — the Mount Gilead of 
the maps — and the mouth of the Jordan beyond, with 
Karn Sartabeh to the south-west, on the opposite side 
of the Ghor. Behind us the water hurried past with 
a cheerful and refreshing sound ; so that, as usual, our 
lunch time was the pleasantest moment of the day. At 
the point just beyond where we sat was another ruined 
fortress, also built to protect the road, or perhaps only 
the aqueduct. After lunch we went straight down to 
the stream of Wady Eajib, which we crossed, and then 
continuing along the other side, we soon entered upon 
the Ghor, or Plain of the Jordan. 

It is here the place to remark, that, below Kefrenji 



284 



Jacob's flight. 



we had quitted the route of the patriarch Jacob, whom 
my husband considered as having pursued his course 
from Mahanaim south-westwards, straight down Wady 
Ajlun as far as the Ghor ; on reaching which he pro- 
ceeded southwards till he came to the spot where we 
now were ; and that thence he continued his journey in 
the same direction along the Ghor as far as Peniel, at 
the ford of the brook J abbok, now Wady Zerka. 

As for ourselves, after continuing over this plain 
south-westward for about a quarter of an hour, we came 
to a mosque, with the tomb of Sheikh Abu Obeida, a 
wely or saint much venerated in these parts, supposed to 
be the Moslem commander of that name under the second 
Khalif, Omar, who with him conquered Damascus, 
and who was killed in battle against the Persians in the 
fourteenth year of the Hegira (a.d. 635). This tomb 
is mentioned by Ibn Batuta, by Burckhardt, and by 
Molyneux, and it is evidently the " Abu el Beady " of 
Buckingham ; as the latter word, if written with Italian 
letters, would be " Biedi/' so that " Abu el Biedi " might 
well do duty for " Abu Obeida." According to Ibn Ba- 
tuta, this part of the Ghor was, in the sixteenth century, 
well cultivated and full of villages. There is still some 
little cultivation, but we saw no signs of villages, nor 
did we hear of any. But there are three Bedain encamp- 
ments in this neighbourhood, that of the Mashalkas in 
the middle, to which we were going, being the largest. 
I stopped to take a photograph of the mosque, when a 



FROM KEFRENJI TO THE JORDAN. 



285 



mounted Beduin, who at the moment happened to come 
up to us with his long spear in his hand, readily com- 
plied with my request that he would place himself 
within the field of the instrument, and seemed quite 
delighted at being taken as part of the view. We met 
several mounted and armed Beduins about here, evident- 
ly belonging to the encampments in the neighbourhood. 

From Abu Obeida we continued westward over the 
plain, accompanied by the Beduin who had stood to 
have his picture taken, and who now formed one of our 
party. It was a fine bright warm day, and I was in 
high spirits; so that it was not long before I had a 
glorious gallop over the plain, Arab fashion. My ex- 
ample was soon followed by our escort and the Beduins 
who had joined our party, and all together we had fan- 
tasia ketir — " plenty fun, Sir." In order to try the ex- 
periment, I borrowed the spear of the Beduin and rode 
about with it. I fancy he thought I should not be able 
to carry it ; but I soon let him and the others see I 
could not only carry it, but make use of it, and manage 
my horse at the same time, if not quite so well, at all 
events much in the same way as the Beduins themselves. 
The Arabs seemed both surprised and delighted at seeing 
a lady ride so well, and our dragoman told my husband 
that, last night, some of the people having remarked my 
good riding, he had informed them that I had taught 
the ladies of Fu'ad Pasha's harem to ride ! Never was 
there such an incorrigible story-teller. 



286 



Jacob's flight. 



Passing a tell on the right-hand, we soon came to a 
deep descent, which brought us into the lower plain of 
the Ghor, being that through which the Jordan has its 
course. We found this lower plain covered with thorns, 
of the kind of which our Saviour's crown is said to have 
been formed. We then continued over broken ground, 
caused by small gullies through the deep alluvial soil, 
till we came to the edge of the plain; when, descending 
a frightfully steep bank almost perpendicular, we found 
ourselves at the encampment of the Mashalka Arabs, 
situate at a short distance from the river's edge. The 
tents were pitched in a large oval, leaving a vacant space 
in the middle, into which all the goods and chattels — 
here literally the cattle — of the tribe are brought and 
secured at night; and here, on account of our great 
value I suppose, it was our lot to be placed. 

We rode straight up to the sheikh's tent, where Abu 
Salim told us we were to dismount and encamp for the 
night. We strongly objected to this, asking why we 
could not first cross the river and encamp on the opposite 
side; and we refused to dismount till we had spoken to 
the sheikh. This worthy soon presented himself with 
his pipe in his mouth, — as insignificant and ill-looking 
a fellow as can well be imagined. If this is a specimen 
of the Beduin sheikhs with whom the patriarchs are to 
be compared, we certainly shall not be led to entertain 
a high opinion of the latter. After the usual salutations, 
our escort presented to Sheikh Sa'd the Mutsellim's 



FROM KEFRENJI TO THE JORDAN. 



287 



order, to take us over the river and to see us safely 
on our journey to Nablus. He said that he was quite 
ready to let us pass over the Jordan, but that he was 
not on friendly terms with the tribe of Arabs on the other 
side of the river, and he therefore could not escort us 
to Nablus. He added that we could cross here, but not 
to-night, as the requisite arrangements could not be 
made till the morrow. 

Not being satisfied with this answer, we desired him 
to take us down to the river's edge, in order that we 
might see for ourselves ; and if it appeared anyhow prac- 
ticable to cross it to-night, we would do so without wait- 
ing for any other arrangements. Accordingly we all 
went down to the river, and there found that the water 
had fallen considerably since the rains had ceased, and 
was not nearly so high as it had been represented to us. 
Nevertheless, the water was so deep and the current so 
strong, that it would have been madness for us to 
attempt to ford the river, or to cross it without some 
proper assistance. Sheikh Sa'd again promised to pro- 
vide for our safe transit early next morning, but nothing- 
would induce him to move that day ; and when we talked 
of swimming across, he said he would not let us go to- 
night under any circumstances. So, there being no help 
for it, we returned with him to the camp, where he 
made us pitch our tents in the open space in the centre 
of the tents, right in front of his own ; alleging, as his 
reason for so doings that it would not be safe for us to 



288 



Jacob's flight. 



pitch our tents by the water-side, as we wished to do, 
in order to get away from the filth of the camp, or even 
far away from himself. 

If we had not been convinced in our own minds that 
we were here in a villanous neighbourhood, the reports 
of previous travellers would remove all doubts on the 
subject. Burckhardt, when passing along a little higher 
up, remarks that "a stranger, who should venture to 
travel here unaccompanied by a guide of the country, 
would most certainly be stripped." Buckingham speaks 
of Wady Ajlun, by him called Wady Fakaris, down 
which we had just come, as being "so notoriously infested 
by robbers, that persons scarcely ever pass through it, 
even in large parties, without being attacked ; and it 
was thought madness for single travellers like ourselves 
to attempt it." 

It was in fact close by this spot that Lieutenant 
Molyneux's party were attacked, as related in the 
eighteenth volume of the Journal of the Royal Geogra- 
phical Society ; and not merely so, but it was by these 
very Mashalkas — by him called Messallieks, — among 
whom we now were. From Molyneux's own journal 
the precise spot where he was plundered could not be 
fixed ; but Commander Lynch, of the United States' 
Navy, in his official report of the Dead Sea Expedition, 
has identified the place ; for, when he had descended the 
Jordan to about where we now were, he says, " We had 
now reached a part of the river not visited by Franks, 



FROM KEFRENJI TO THE JORDAN. 



289 



at least since the time of the Crusades, except by three 
English sailors, who were robbed and fled from it a short 
distance below ;" which he further explains by the 
following entry in his diary of the next day : — " About 
an hour after starting, we came to the place where the 
lamented Molyneux's boat was attacked while he was 
journeying down by land." Captain Lynch further 
reports, that he himself and his companions were in 
expectation of a skirmish with "some strange Arabs, 
supposed to be a marauding party," who " were believed 
to belong to the tribe Mikhail Meshakah, whose terri- 
tory was thereabouts," that is to say, these same Ma- 
sh alk as again. 

Sheikh Sa'd himself is probably the very man with 
whom poor Molyneux relates he negotiated for an escort, 
but could not come to terms, because " his charge was 
very great;" for he told our dragoman, in the course 
of conversation, that, had he not received such a peremp- 
tory order from the Mutsellim to convey us safely across 
the Jordan, he would not let us pass for less than five 
thousand piastres — nearly fifty pounds sterling ! In 
saying this, I suspect he did not wish to put too fine a 
point to it, and that it would have been nearer the truth 
if he had said, that, had we come down unprotected, 
he would have plundered us of everything we possessed. 
Travellers in the valley of the Jordan too frequently fall 
among thieves. A few years ago a friend of ours, when 
going to Jericho, was left with nothing but his spectacles. 

u 



290 



Jacob's flight. 



Another tourist is said to have been deprived of all his 
baggage and wearing apparel except a pair of gloves ; 
whilst a party of three were stripped of everything, and 
left to find their way back to Jerusalem, with one don- 
key and a single pair of trousers among them — at least, 
so we were told. 

Apart from the general reputation of the neighbour- 
hood, pur place of encampment was a most wretched 
one. The tribe having been stationed here for some 
time, the whole ground was saturated with the filth of 
the cattle, which in this heated atmosphere was most 
offensive and unwholesome. We had hardly arrived 
when we were surrounded by the Arabs, — men, women, 
and children, — watching and examining all that was 
going on, and whom we could not keep from handling 
everything about us, and ourselves into the bargain, so 
that they were not long in transferring to us myriads of 
vermin. In truth, the dirt and filth we had to put up 
with here were to me worse than all else. 

At sundown the mountain-sides became covered with 
animals of various descriptions, returning home for the 
night. All were brought within the circle of the tents, 
and in a very short time the entire space was crowded 
with sheep, lambs, goats, kids, cows, asses, horses, camels, 
fowls, and dogs — to say nothing of insects of many 
kinds. The smell and the heat from all these animals 
were intolerable, and the noise made by them, and by the 
frogs in the swampy ground around us, kept us awake 



FROM KEFRENJI TO THE JORDAN. 



291 



the whole night. When the animals had thus been 
brought in, fires were lighted in front of most of the tents, 
and their inmates soon became busily engaged in prepa- 
ring their suppers. 

The Beduin tent is composed of camel's -hair cloths, 
supported by sticks and ropes tied to stakes in the ground, 
forming a covering overhead of some fifteen or twenty 
feet long, without being closed in at the sides or ends, 
but entirely open all round to the wind and cold. A 
little brushwood spread on the ground, and a wretched 
dirty straw mattress to lie on, seemed to be the extent 
of the furniture. They are an intensely dirty people, 
and their animals appear to be quite as much at home 
in the tents as they are themselves, and they all pig 
together. So much is it the habit of the sheep to go 
into the tents, that we could not keep them out of ours. 
They have a curious w T ay of preventing their animals from 
straying : they set fire to the brushwood in those parts 
of the Ghor where they do not wish the animals to go. 

While I was occupied in developing the photographs 
I had taken, my husband was boiling his thermometers, 
from which he calculated the depression of this place 
below the ocean to be 1174 feet. It w 7 ould not have 
been pleasant if the waters of the Hed Sea could have 
come in upon us. To enable them to do so, ail that 
would be requisite is to cut through the slightly elevated 
ground in the Araba, — as the southern prolongation of 
the Ghor is called, — between the south end of the Dead 

U 2 



292 



Jacob's flight. 



Sea and the head of the Gulf of Akaba, which would 
hardly be a more difficult task than the formation of the 
Suez Canal. How strange it would be to have the 
waters of the Ued Sea running inland further north 
than the Lake of Tiberias ! 

The water of the Jordan has the reputation of being 
the best in the world ; but I suppose this is on account 
of the sacred character of the river, as my husband cer- 
tainly does not think it so good as the Nile water. We 
found it, however, very agreeable, though not remarkably 
clean, notwithstanding which we drank plentifully of it 
in consequence of the suffocating heat. 

We were here told that the ford of Wady Zerka was 
about an hour and a half or two hours to the south of 
the camp of the Mashalkas. It is not to be reached by 
going along the lower plain, but one has to return to 
the upper plain, namely, that on which the tomb of 
Abu Obeida stands, and so continue along the plain 
to the ford. This is the " Ford Jabbok," at which, be- 
fore crossing over the river to meet his brother Esau, 
" Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled with him a 
man until the breaking of the day . . . and Jacob called 
the name of the place Peniel." 

After the meeting of the two brothers, it is evident 
from the Scripture history that Esau was most urgent 
on Jacob to accompany him to Mount Seir, and that 
the latter made all sorts of excuses for not complying 
with his brother's request. The result was that " Esau 



FROM KEFRENJI TO THE JORDAN. 



293 



returned that day on his way unto Seir/' whilst the 
astute J acob, professing to " lead on softly, according as 
the cattle that went before him and the children were able 
to endure/' journeyed only as far as Succoth, where he 
stopped short and " built him a house, and made booths 
for his cattle ; " and when the unsuspecting Esau had 
gone so far as to render his return unlikely, J acob sud- 
denly broke up his camp at Succoth, and hurried across 
the J ordan, not returning at first to his father Isaac at 
the family residence in "the city of Arbah, which is 
Hebron," where Esau in his anger might easily have 
gone to him, but directing his steps in a contrary di- 
rection, to Shalem, a city of Shechem. Succoth must 
consequently have been situate somewhere to the south 
of the Jabbok, and most probably at a very short dis- 
tance from that brook on the east side of Jordan, and 
not on the opposite side and further to the porth, where 
it has been placed by other travellers. This is the com- 
mon-sense view of the subject, when all the circum- 
stances narrated are considered. 

There is, however, another argument deserving of 
being adduced in support of the conclusion thus come 
to. The Bible history does not profess, any more than 
other historical works, to relate everything that oc- 
curred ; and in particular it omits all mention of the 
stages of Jacob's journey, both in going to and return- 
ing from Padan Aram, except the few principal ones 
from which the remainder may be determined with a 



294 



Jacob's flight. 



near approach to accuracy. Thus, on the outward jour- 
ney, the only station expressly named is Beth-el, that 
being the point at which the fugitive turned from the 
high north road on which he had been travelling, and 
passed over the Jordan, " into the land of the children 
of the east." In like manner, on his return -journey we 
find only Mount Gilead, Mahanaim, Peniel, and then 
Succoth mentioned ; which last station is the southern- 
most point reached, whence turning westward he crossed 
the Jordan, and made the best of his way to Shechem. 
With these few principal stations marked on the map, 
it will be seen however that all the intermediate por- 
tions of the patriarch's route may be filled in without 
difficulty. 

My husband considers Jacob's encampment at Suc- 
coth to have been on the upper plain on the east side of 
the Jordan, about where it is crossed by the high-road 
from Es-Salt to Nablus, near to the ruined bridge 
called Jisr Damieh ; and he is of opinion that, when the 
patriarch broke up from Succoth, he at once crossed the 
Jordan by the ford on this high-road, and continued 
along the same road up the valley of Wady Farihh to 
Shechem or Nablus. Succoth will consequently have 
been situated in about 32° 06" north latitude. The po- 
sition of the junction of the Jabbok, now Wady Zerka, 
with the Jordan, is fraught with difficulties, every con- 
structor of a map of the Holy Land appearing to have 
different ideas on the subject. In my husband's com- 



PROM KEFRENJI TO THE JORDAN. 295 

munication to the Royal Geographical Society, made 
shortly after our return from Syria, he expressed the 
opinion that Wady Zerka enters the Jordan in about 
32° 03' N. lat. ; but having since taken into considera- 
tion the positions of the ford of the Jordan and Jisr 
Damieh, as laid down in Lieutenant Van de Velde's 
map, he concludes that the junction is more correctly 
to be placed somewhere about 32° 07 N. lat. 

We were most desirous of going down the Ghor as 
far as the ford of the Jabbok, and would certainly have 
tried to do so, in spite of the Beni Aduan ; but we did 
not dare attempt it, as our only chance of getting across 
the J ordan was by urging the necessity for our instant 
departure, with a view to our speedy arrival at Nablus. 
This was the consequence of Abu Salim's passing us off 
for what we were not. My husband had now become 
the Sultan's own body-physician — Hakim Malekna — 
travelling post-haste to Constantinople. Our hurry to 
cross the river was therefore only natural and proper ; 
but were we to lose a day by going to the Jabbok, we 
should prove ourselves to be impostors. Independently 
of all which, it really was important for us to get away 
before our dragoman's tricks were exposed, as sooner or 
later they could not fail to be. 

I have already mentioned that the attendant of Sheikh 
Diab ibn Freikh, who met us at Ajlun, was so black that 
we at first took him for an African. We noticed the 
same character among niost of the Arabs in the camp ; 



296 



Jacob's flight. 



and Lieutenant Molyneux, in describing the Beduins by 
whom his sailors were attacked, says that " two-thirds 
of these men were blacks, belonging to the tribe of the 
Messallieks." As in the case of the valleys of all tro- 
pical rivers, which the J ordan from its great depression 
most resembles, the heat and moisture tan the inhabi- 
tants very rapidly ; so it is only natural that the people 
here should possess physical characters similar to those 
of the Negroes of Africa, as also the Papuans or Asiatic 
Negroes, in accordance with the principles enunciated in 
my husband's c Origines Biblicse/ 

These Beduins of the Ghor are in truth perfect sa- 
vages. Compared with them, gipsies are gentlefolks. 
People in this ' e state of nature" cannot possibly rise 
from their own efforts; and should civilized man ever 
come in constant contact with them, they must die out, 
as the North American Indians and the Australians have 
already done, and as the New Zealanders are now doing 
in their turn. The late Lord Macaulay indulged in 
the fancy that, at some remote future period, the civilized 
New Zealander will speculate over the deserted ruins 
of the present rich and populous capital of England. 
The day may come, indeed, when London shall be as 
Nineveh and Thebes. But the Australasian, of what- 
ever continent or island, who shall muse over its re- 
mains, will not be a civilized descendant of the present 
native savages, who are already " evanescent " and will 
probably have totally disappeared before the latest great 



PROM KEFRENJI TO THE JORDAN. 



297 



improvement of London, the Thames Embank ment, is 
completed ; but he will be the offspring of the colonist 
from England, which country, however fallen from its 
present high estate, he will still be proud to venerate 
as the birthplace of his ancestors. 



298 



CHAPTER XVII. 

PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 

Wednesday, January 8th.- — When we got up this 
morning, we found the whole camp enveloped in a thick 
mist, which at first surprised us, but may be thus ac- 
counted for. At Mezar, at the edge of the valley of the 
Jordan, the warm air ; rushing up from the Ghor, caused 
wind : here below, the cold air, coming down, condensed 
the vapour and caused mist. At eight o'clock the sun 
rising behind the mountains threw up horns — or u dag- 
gers," as I called them at the time — along the summit, 
which horns rapidly dispersed, and were succeeded by 
others larger in size ; till at length the luminary itself ap- 
peared, sending up a single horn, which instantly spread 
into rays of light. As soon as the sun was risen, the 
mist dispersed rapidly, and all was life. The cattle had 
first to be milked, and then the flocks and herds were 
sent out to graze. It was a pretty sight to see them all 
leaving the camp, and streaming up the sides of the 
mountains. As we walked amongst the tents, the dogs 



PASSAGE OF THE JOED AN. 



299 



flew at us ferociously, and were brutally struck by the 
people. The poor animals are not treated at all kindly; 
but they are most valuable as guardian s, each tent 
having two or three of them, which all night long had 
kept up an incessant barking, first at one thing and then 
at another. 

Sheikh Sa'd took so much time to show himself, that 
we began to fear some contretemps. We had, however, 
made up our minds, either to cross the river this morn- 
ing, or else to return back to Kefrenji in the hope of 
meeting the Mutsellim, or if he were not there, then we 
would proceed up the river to Jisr Mejamieh. We 
therefore packed up everything, in readiness to start 
either the one way or the other. 

When at length the sheikh did think fit to make his 
appearance, we were not much surprised at finding the 
first question to be, what we were going to pay him and 
his people for their trouble. The two soldiers also talked 
of leaving, as did likewise the men from Kefrenji, as 
they all said that their duty was performed when they 
had delivered us over to the Mashalka Arabs. This 
was not at all our idea, nor theirs either in reality ; only 
they wished to realize their position, or, in other words, 
to see whether they could not manage to squeeze some- 
thing out of us. We made them all good promises, and 
took out some money to have it ready to give to them. 
Abu Salim, on his part, explained to them, in the most 
nonchalant manner possible, that^ as we were travelling 



300 



Jacob's flight. 



at the expense of the Turkish Government, it was quite 
immaterial to us what they charged us, as the Hakim- 
bashi would immediately draw for it on the Treasury. 
This was equivalent to telling them they would charge 
us anything at their own peril. But then he added, 
most kindly and considerately, that if they conducted 
themselves to our satisfaction, my husband was quite 
willing to make them all a present out of his own 
pocket. God forgive us for being privy to all these 
falsehoods ! It was with difficulty that we kept our- 
selves from declaring that what he said was not true ; 
but the mischief was done before we were well aware of 
it, and we should only have made matters worse by in- 
terfering. How much all this reminded us of the scene 
so ably depicted by Mr. Kinglake in ' Eothen V 

Just as we were on the point of going down to the 
river, an Arab from Jericho came into the camp. He 
asked if we were going to that place, but we said we 
were not. This Arab knew Abu Salim well, and I ap- 
prehend he must have immediately seen through all the 
stories the latter had been telling, even if he did not 
expose him to Sheikh Sa'd, whose relative he was by 
marriage. At all events, I feel convinced that this man's 
arrival was the chief, if not the sole, cause of our en- 
counter with the Beduins on the other side of the Jordan. 

It was not till nine o'clock that we left the camp, 
going a little way up the bank of the river to the ford. 
The water had fallen even since we were there last night, 



PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 



301 



as was shown by sticks stuck by the Arabs in the mud 
along the water's edge, which they kept moving forward 
during the day, as the water continued to recede. The 
countryman, who waited by the river- side till the water 
should run out, would hardly have been thought foolish 
in waiting here by the side of the Jordan. Could we 
have ensured only another week of fine weather, we 
might doubtless have forded the stream on our horses. 
In its actual state, however, the current was still very 
rapid, and the passage a hazardous one. 

Sheikh Sa'd at once set his men to work to cut down 
brushwood for a raft, whilst the women inflated a number 
of w r ater-skins, binding the mouths up very tight to pre- 
vent their collapsing; which skins were then placed in 
the interstices of the branches forming the raft, and the 
whole tied securely together. The children, who fol- 
lowed us down to the river, amused themselves with 
fighting, throwing sticks at one another as lances, etc. — 
learning to do, in fact, what would be their occupation 
in after years. When my husband was at the market- 
town of Yejubbi, in Southern Abessinia, he noticed the 
Mohammedan children there playing at buying and 
selling slaves and other merchandise ! So true it is, 
u Train up a child in the way he should go ; and when 
he is old he will not depart from it." 

While all this was going on, a little confidential con- 
versation took place between Sheikh Sa'd and Abu 
Salim, which the latter came to communicate to us. 



802 



JACOBUS FLIGHT. 



He had promised that my husband would give ten me- 
jidehs as a free gift out of his own pocket, about which 
he would not say anything to the Government. If 
Sheikh Sa'd was satisfied with this, we on our side had 
certainly no reason to complain. However, as will be 
seen by-and-by, the calls on our purse were not at an 
end by the payment of this trifle. 

At about half-past ten some boys were sent across the 
river. They threw their arms alternately over the water, 
whilst treading it with their feet. Next an old woman, 
who had been the principal inflater of the water-skins, 
tied one of them on her back, and a man stripped and 
took hold of a rope fastened to her ; and the two walked 
together into the stream. The current soon caught the 
lady, who floated away with only her head and her 
"skin" visible; whilst the man swam and guided her 
in safety to the opposite side. Then one of the mules 
was taken across, but not without his turning two or 
three times, and dragging back to the bank the man 
who guided him. At length about eleven o^ clock they 
carried the raft into the water, and launched it — a most 
rude contrivance, sure to wet everything and everybody 
placed upon it. Our chief muleteer, Abu Mustafa, was 
the first who was persuaded to venture in this frail bark ; 
a part of our baggage being first placed on it, and he 
seating himself on the top. Some twenty men and boys 
swam round the raft, holding and guiding it with ropes, 
singing, shouting, and making all sorts of noises ; and 



PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 



303 



so, like Mr. Feeble-mind in ' The Pilgrim's Progress/ 
he went over to the other side. 

On reaching the opposite bank, the raft was pulled on 
shore, unladen, and then carried some distance up the 
stream, where it was again launched, and was borne by 
the current back to our side. Here it was taken out of 
the water, and the lashings looked to and secured ; as 
such a rough machine required constant supervision. 
For the following load Abu Salim wanted some of the 
pack-saddles, which the second muleteer refused to let 
him have. An altercation ensued between the two, in 
which the sheikh interfered as arbiter ; and on the mu- 
leteer's not deferring to his authority, the sheikh at once 
proceeded to lay hands on the things, for the purpose of 
removing them. The stupid muleteer, forgetting that 
he had to do with an autocrat as absolute in his sphere 
as the Emperor of Russia, attempted to prevent the 
removal of his own property ; when he was set on by the 
whole tribe, who struck him, kicked him, and knocked 
him about without mercy. In fact, so furious were they 
at their chief's authority being disputed, that I really 
do believe they would almost have torn him limb from 
limb, had I not rushed forward and placed myself in 
front of the unfortunate wretch, as he lay prostrate on 
the ground. My interference instantly put a stop to 
the fray. The man was under my protection, and Sheikh 
Sa'd was the first to call off his men, who, however, 
scarcely needed the warning, so strong is the feeling of 



304 



Jacob's flight. 



gallantry or honour among the Arabs. The poor fellow 
had, however, been already severely handled, and blub- 
bered famously when it was all over. 

The raft was now again launched, but it was too 
heavily laden, and so everything went under water and 
got wet through. This is the common fault. They 
want to get through the work as quickly as possible, 
and don't care what mischief they do to one's things. 
It was fine sport to them, such a warm, fine day as it 
was; and whilst they were shouting and jumping about 
in the water, they nearly let the raft drift past the land- 
ing-place. The sheikh appeared to work the hardest of 
all, swimming over with every load ; and on his arrival 
on the other side, an attendant had a white dress ready 
to throw over him. 

Whilst we were waiting for our turn, the doctor of 
the tribe came to consult the Hakim-bashi as to whether 
to-day was an auspicious day for letting blood. As my 
husband did not want anything to interfere with the 
work that was going on, he told him very gravely that 
he had better postpone the operation till to-morrow. At 
the same time, at the request of his confrere, my hus- 
band looked at his lancets, which were not exactly the 
best, and to his intense delight promised to give him one 
of his own, when he could get at his things on the oppo- 
site bank. 

Our cook Yussuf was the next to go over. He be- 
haved like a man ; took his place quietly on the top of 



PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 



305 



the luggage, carrying my fowling-piece in his hand ; 
and when he reached the middle of the current, fired 
oft* both barrels, to the great delight of all the Arabs. 

At one o' clock our turn came to cross the river. Our 
saddles were laid one on the other on the raft, to make 
a sort of raised seat in the centre for my husband to 
sit on; but the difficult thing was to get at this seat, 
as at the very first step he took in this rough boat, 
his leg slipped between the sticks of the raft into the 
water below. The attempt to extricate himself only 
made matters worse, and he soon found himself astride 
an inflated goat-skin, with his legs dangling in the water 
through the framework of the raft, — a rather ludicrous 
sight, but a very awkward position nevertheless. It 
ended by his finding there was no means of getting a 
seat on the raft, but by dragging himself on backwards in 
an uncomfortably* flat position : in fact he was more lying 
on his back than sitting, and I was obliged to jump on 
his legs, and there hold on in the best way I could. Of 
course the posture my husband was in quite prevented 
his being able to assist me or even himself. Uncom- 
fortably as we were placed, and almost unable to move, 
we might still have crossed over pretty dry, had we only 
been alone. But the third muleteer had perched him- 
self on the raft behind us; and as this naturally sank 
that end of it under w 7 ater, Abu Salim, just at the last 
moment, when the raft was being pushed off, jumped on 
at the other end, and brought the entire load below the 

x 



306 



Jacob's flight. 



water-line, in which state it had, of course, to go the 
whole way across the river. It was an amazingly stupid 
affair, and all done to save an additional passage. 

The worst of the matter was, that, just as we reached 
the most rapid part of the current, the raft nearly cap- 
sized, in consequence of the men having pulled so much 
on one side as to give it a list (to use a nautical expres- 
sion) ; and it would most assuredly have gone over alto- 
gether, had I not righted it by throwing myself off into 
the water. Our attendants, who, to do them justice, 
were most attentive and anxious to take care of us as 
far as lay in their power, scrambled through the water 
to my rescue, and I was dragged to the shore by at 
least half-a-dozen of them, all vjring with one another 
as to who should have the largest share in saving me. 

In spite of the danger to which, seriously speaking, 
we were exposed, the scene had its ludicrous side also ; 
and I cannot but admit that we were very merry in spite 
of our disasters. There was one thing which was most 
ridiculous. My husband had taken with him an ordi- 
nary European black hat, to wear in the towns, as is 
customary ; and as the hat-box had got broken on the 
journey, we thought the safest way to carry it over the 
water was that he should put it on his head; and in 
that trim he crossed the river. I fancy the Jordan has 
not often been thus made to carry a " chimney-pot." 

"We were, however, most thankful for having passed 
the river in safety ; though on looking to our things we 



PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN. 



307 



found them to be all, with scarcely any exception, wetted 
through and through. Our first task, therefore, was to 
set to work, every one of us, to open our trunks, and 
spread their contents out to dry ; and we made the more 
haste to do this, as we saw a small cloud rising in the 
west, which threatened rain. The poor muleteers were 
very unhappy about their pack-saddles; and sat down 
and cut them open, in order the more quickly to dry the 
insides. Our dragoman's canteen was full of water, and 
all its contents in the way of provisions completely 
spoiled; sugar, tea, coffee, bread, flour, being melted 
into one pudding. For the rest, our bedding, cloaks, 
shawls, clothes, saddles, etc., were all wringing wet. 
Our boots and stockings, which we had taken off before 
getting on to the raft to prevent them from becoming 
wet, w 7 e had much better have kept on ; and as we had 
none dry to change, we had to remain an hour or more 
bare-footed, while looking after our things and drying 
them in the sun. Our travelling-trunks had to a certain 
extent kept out the water, and the closely-packed linen 
remained, therefore, tolerably dry. My husband's ane- 
roid barometer was full of water, which had to be poured 
out. Of course the index was changed, and there was 
an end of it ; but, fortunately, he had taken an excellent 
set of observations all the way down the valley from 
Kefrenji, so that it did not now much signify. 

But by far the worst of all was, that the water 
had got into my photographic apparatus, w T ith ail the 

x 2 



308 



Jacob's flight. 



views I had taken, many of which it had irremediably 
defaced, and not a single one remaining wholly unin- 
jured. This was most disheartening, after all the trouble 
I had given myself, and when so many of the views had 
succeeded so well. But I consoled myself with the re- 
flection that we had ourselves crossed the Jordan in 
safety, and that the object of our Pilgrimage was in 
fact accomplished; for we had now completely traced 
the route of the patriarch Jacob from Padan Aram into 
the Promised Land. 

The two bashi-buzuks, only one of whom had crossed 
the river with us, were now pressing to be dismissed; 
so my husband wrote a few lines to Hammed Beg, 
thanking him for his assistance, and reporting favour- 
ably of all and sundry. He told him also he should 
not fail to write to her Britannic Majesty's Consul at 
Damascus, requesting him to make it known to his 
Excellency, Emin Pasha. He then gave the two soldiers 
two medijehs apiece, with which they seemed more than 
satisfied. As soon as Sheikh Sa'd saw what was going 
on, he came for his promised bakhshish. It was per- 
haps premature to give it to him then ; but we could 
not go from our promise, so we handed him his ten 
mejidehs : five for his tribe and five for himself would 
be about the proportion, I suppose, in which they would 
be divided. To this my husband joined the promised 
lancet for the doctor, and I added a piece of money for 
Sheikh Sard's little daughter, with which he seemed 



PASSAGE OE THE JORDAN. 



309 



more pleased than all the rest. For the two sheikhs of 
Kefrenji we gave two striped silk coats ; which, as they 
did not cross the river, we sent to them by Sheikh SaM. 

But before the latter left, we pressed him to return, 
for the purpose of remaining to guard us all night. 
For some time he refused to do this ; but at length, 
upon the tempting promise of a scarlet cloak for himself, 
and two mejidehs for his men, he was induced to swear 
to return for the night : only he insisted on having his 
cloak first, as he said it was impossible for him to go 
back with dresses for others without one for himself. 
This was reasonable enough ; so with my own hands I 
got him out one from my trunk, which Abu Salim said 
we had intended taking on with us to Constantinople as 
a curiosity ; and on this being thrown over his shoulders, 
he strutted off as proud as a peacock. Sheikh SaM is 
a frightfully ugly old fellow, and likes to have his own 
way ; but as regards his conduct to us, we cannot say 
we had any reason to be dissatisfied with him. His 
undertaking was to watch us during the night, but not 
to protect us ; as he said the ground was not his own, 
and he was not on terms with the Arabs on this side. 
Allah kerim ! 

The forebodings of rain were not deceptive. In the 
afternoon, about half-past four, it began to thunder, and 
in an hour afterwards it rained hard. What a blessing 
it was we had crossed the river ! Sheikh Sa'd came over 
with some of his men, according to his word, to guard 



310 



Jacob's flight. 



•us during the night. They lighted a large fire in front 
of the tents, and sat down in the pouring rain, with 
their guns ready in their hands and covered up with 
their cloaks, keeping watch. It rained so hard that, in 
spite of the waterproof covering to our tent, the rain 
made its way in all round, and fell even on our bed. 
About eight o'clock we lay down in our clothes, to take 
a little rest, for we were quite knocked up with fatigue, 
and from having nearly fasted for want of provisions ; 
leaving Abu Salim and the rest to watch till midnight, 
when he was to call us up. But, before lying down, I 
took care to load all our firearms, so as to be prepared 
in case we should happen to be attacked. 



311 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

FEOM THE JORDAN TO SHECHEM. 

Thursday, January 9th. — Shortly after midnight we 
were called by Abu Salim, according to our arrange- 
ment. It was a wretched night, with the rain falling in 
torrents. The Arabs were sitting quietly round the fire, 
which, somehow or other, they managed to keep up in 
spite of the rain. One of our muleteers, poor fellow, lay 
under the shelter of our tent, with a dreadful cold and 
cough, which it made my heart ache to hear. It was 
very cold ; and the incessant howling and barking of the 
dogs in the Arab camp on the opposite side of the J or- 
dan, the sullen sound of the rushing stream, and the 
rain beating down heavily over our heads, did not tend 
to warm our blood, but rather to make us shudder all 
over with horror, when we thought of the desolate spot 
in which we then were at that dead hour of the night. 
Towards four o' clock my husband lay down again ; but 
I continued to sit up writing my diary, with a revolver 
on each side of me on the table. I could not sleep, be- 



312 



Jacob's fltght. 



cause I did not entirely trust our Arab guards, now that 
we were out of their tents, and from under their special 
protection. At daybreak, when I heard the people stir- 
ring, I threw myself on the bed, and was soon fast 
asleep. 

When we got up, it was fortunately fair ; for it was 
absolutely necessary that the tents should stand some 
time exposed to the air to dry, as in their wet state they 
were too heavy for any of the mules to have carried. 
What w T e should have done if the rain had continued, I 
really do not know. We had no food, and no means of 
getting any. Abu Salim managed to make us a cup of 
hot coffee, the sugar for which was served to us in a 
tumbler, it being a perfect paste and anything but un- 
adulterated. Of course we had nothing to eat ; still we 
were thankful for what little we could get, and certainly 
did not think of comparing ourselves to the Israelites in 
the Wilderness, as a pious traveller once did, when he 
could no longer get any rancid butter {ghee) to eat with 
his boiled lentils. 

We found the river had swollen considerably during 
the night, and the current was much stronger. The 
water had, however, not yet had time to come down from 
above; though before we left we could see it covering 
stones, which we had fixed on as measures of the river's 
height. It was now clear that Rusticus would have been 
"done," had he waited for the river to run out; and my 
husband referred to a similar occurrence,, when he was 



FEOM THE JORDAN TO SHECHEM. 



313 



travelling in Southern Abessinia in company with his 
friend Dr. Krapf, which since our return home we have 
found entered in his diary, in the following words : — 
" After crossing the Shunkurgie river, we had to stop 
half an hour for the Tadjurrah mule, which had gone 
astray, and then to repack her load. Whilst we were 
thus delayed a heavy shower came on, and it was really 
wonderful to observe the effect it had on the waters of 
the river. They came rolling down in one mass; and 
the stream, which we had that moment crossed without 
difficulty, soon became next to impassable. We saw this 
in the case of some men who wanted to cross, and could 
not find a ford. Our people had wished to stop for the 
mule before passing the stream ; and if we had let them 
do so, we should have been in a mess. Mr. Krapf 
gave them a short lecture on the advantage of ' taking 
time by the forelock/ which they are not much in the 
habit of doing." 

The practical rule deduced by my husband from this 
lesson, is one which he wishes me to record for the bene- 
fit of future travellers : — Never encamp or make any 
stay by the side of a river, until you have first crossed 
the stream; unless you have some special reason to the 
contrary. I only wish my husband could be induced to 
publish the whole details of his three years' journey in 
Abessinia, the diary of which appears to me so full of 
interest and to contain so much valuable matter. 

For ourselves, had we stopped anywhere only one day 



314 



Jacob's flight. 



on the road, it would hardly have been practicable for 
us to have crossed the Jordan as we did. Strangely 
enough, our whole journey from Harran was as if we 
were travelling against time, — a "Flight," in fact, like 
that of the patriarch Jacob. A sort of presentiment had 
made us push through, so that, in point of fact, we went 
over the ground very much faster than he could possibly 
have done, with his numerous flocks and herds ; and I 
verily believe, that if we had not hurried on as we did, 
we should never have completed the journey. 

By about half-past nine o' clock we were in a condi- 
tion to start. Sheikh Sa'd now took leave of us, hav- 
ing first fulfilled his promise to provide us with a guide 
to Nablus. At the same time he told us plainly, that, 
after we had left him, he did not undertake to protect 
us on this side of the J ordan ; which really looked as if 
he wished us to understand, that he washed his hands as 
regards what he knew was about to happen. And more 
suspicious still were the instructions which he gave in 
our presence to the guide, that he was not to take us 
straight up the mountains, where there appeared to be a 
path, but was to proceed some distance down the Ghor, 
before turning westwards. 

Shortly after we had started, we were joined by an Arab 
on foot, who, on our guide's expressing unwillingness to 
continue with us, volunteered to take his place ; but, on 
our objecting, they both went on together. Our road 
lay for a short distance in a south-westerly direction 



FK0M THE JORDAN TO SHECHEM. 



315 



across the lower plain, whence we ascended to the 
upper one, always continuing in the same direction, and 
gradually approaching the high country on our right- 
hand. Had we kept along this upper plain, we should 
have found ourselves at Jericho. Having our misgiv- 
ings as to the faithfulness of our guides, we were urgent 
to quit the plain ; and a good deal of discussion on the 
subject ensued between them and our dragoman, which 
had the effect of causing delay. There is no doubt in 
our minds that all this was the result of a concerted 
plan, and that Sheikh Sa'd, or at all events his relative, 
the man from Jericho, who came into the camp just be- 
fore we started, had more to do with what now ensued 
than either of them would be willing to own. 

It was getting on towards eleven o' clock, and we were 
just rounding a point of the rocks, with the determina- 
tion of ascending the side of the mountains, although 
there was no path, when our two guides, who had 
managed to lag behind, began undressing ; and hardly 
had we noticed this strange conduct, when one of them 
rushed past us up the side of the mountain, almost in a 
state of nudity, crying out, " The Beduins are upon us \" 
at the same moment, to our dismay, we perceived a 
party of mounted Arabs galloping after us spear in hand. 
So little were we aware of their approach, that we had 
barely time to draw out our revolvers, before they came 
up to us, brandishing their spears and threatening to kill 
us. They were four fierce-looking fellows, fully armed 



316 



Jacob's flight. 



with spears, guns, pistols, and swords, but as they made 
no use of their fire-arms, I imagine they were not loaded. 
On the other hand, they were not conscious that we our- 
selves carried any fire-arms except my double-barrelled 
fowling-piece, and thus they fancied we should not be 
able to offer any resistance. But the fact was, that, in 
addition to my fowling-piece and a horse-pistol carried 
by Abu Salim (which latter, however, would not go off), 
we had two pairs of revolvers and a pair of pocket-pistols ; 
so that we were in a position to accommodate our assail- 
ants with six-and-twenty bullets, without reloading. It 
was as a matter of precaution that, during the latter part 
of our journey, we had carefully concealed our revolvers, 
and consequently there had been no suspicion in the 
camp that we carried any fire-arms further than my 
gun. The Beduins were quite taken aback when they 
found us thus armed to the teeth; and as we pointed 
our revolvers first ^at the one and then at the other, 
and told them to take care or we should shoot them, 
and my husband fired in the air, just to let them see we 
were in earnest and able to defend ourselves, they did 
not dare come near enough to use their long spears. 

Could we only have kept order among our people, all 
would have been well ; but the moment the alarm was 
given, they seemed to lose their heads entirely, Abu 
Salim being the first to call out to the others to make 
for the mountain, which they did in the greatest dis- 
order; one driving the baggage-mules one way and a 



FROM THE JORDAN TO SHECI1EM. 



317 



second another way, and then all running off to hide 
themselves among the rocks, in spite of our calling to 
them to keep together in a body under the protection of 
our fire-arms. 

The cook Yussuf was as usual ahead of the rest, and 
his horse having taken fright, like his rider, and galloped 
off up the mountain, the Arabs, profited by the scattered 
state of our party, and made him their first victim. Two 
of our assilants were upon the poor fellow,, one on each 
side; and in a moment, before I, who was the best 
mounted of the party, could get to his assistance, they 
had torn from him a new abba he had bought at Da- 
mascus, with his tarbush and kefiya; and, had I not come 
up as I did, they would doubtless have pulled him from 
his horse and stripped him to the skin. I imagine 
they took me for a young man, as I wore a boy's cap 
and a long cloak, as usual. Then two of them galloped 
towards my husband, who was keeping guard over the 
baggage-mules ; but his revolver presented at them, and 
a shot fired over their heads, kept them at a respectful 
distance. The mule that carried our bedding and the 
few remaining provisions which the water had not spoilt, 
such as raw coffee, etc., having slipped its load and so 
stopped a little behind the rest, became next a prey to 
the robbers. It was surprising how adroitly and expe- 
ditiously they disengaged the animal, by cutting the 
cords and letting his lq#d fall to the ground, whence it 
was instantly transferred to their own saddles. 



318 



Jacob's flight. 



Our dragoman, armed with my fowling-piece, which I 
had given him on perceiving the Beduins, galloped up to 
protect the luggage, when one of the Beduins threw his 
spear at him, which passed through his waistcoat and 
coat, which were hanging loose ; and the point entering 
the butt end of my gun, it dragged him to the ground. 
Fortunately it did him no further injury than slightly 
cutting his hand. Catching hold of the spear, and so 
preventing his assailant from regaining possession of it, 
Abu Salim now pointed the gun at him ; but both bar- 
rels missed fire, most likely from the powder with which 
I had loaded it last night having got damp when cross- 
ing the Jordan. The Beduin, on his side, after losing 
his spear, drew out one of his pistols, but without at- 
tempting to discharge it, which satisfied me it was only 
a dummy. Abu Salim was, however, quite unconscious 
of this, and in a fit of desperation rushed to my husband 
for one of his revolvers, with which, without further pre- 
meditation, he shot his assailant's horse ; and I, coming 
up at the same time, fired upon the other Beduin. 

Seeing themselves so warmly received, Abu Salim 5 s 
opponent now proposed khuweh, or brotherhood, which 
our dragoman at once agreed to. On this hostilities 
immediately ceased, hands were clasped in token of 
peace, the Beduin's spear was returned to him, and a 
rapid negotiation entered into, by which we were to 
make them a present, they swearing not to molest us 
again. It was much against our inclination that this 



FROM THE JORDAN TO SHECHEM. 



319 



arrangement was come to, as we should have preferred 
driving them off altogether by force. However, it was 
perhaps better that the conflict should have been brought 
to a close ; for first one and then a second of the Arabs 
had gone up to a prominence of the rocks, as if looking 
out for the approach of a reinforcement, if not for the 
purpose of making signals for one. 

In reply to our inquiry as to the tribe to which they 
belonged, they said that they were Beni Aduan, which 
is hardly probable. What is certain is that they came 
from the same direction as ourselves; and from the 
heated state of their horses they must have ridden some 
distance, so that they could not have avoided passing 
the spot where Sheikh Sa'd passed the night with us. 
Hence, we cannot remove from our minds the impres- 
sion that the attack on us was made with his privity, if 
not at his instigation. Indeed, I am almost sure that I 
recognized one of our assailants, as having been with us 
in the encampment of the Mashalkas, on the east side 
of Jordan. 

In giving this account of our conflict, I must not omit 
to record our Sancho Panza's bravery. As soon as the 
fat little cook saw the provisions in danger of being car- 
ried off, he ran up to my husband, and begged hard for 
a pistol of some kind to shoot the robbers. As Abu 
Salim had already taken one of the revolvers, my hus- 
band could only let Yussuf have a pocket-pistol, with 
which he was hastening to the rescue, when peace was 



320 



Jacob's flight. 



proclaimed, and thus he had no opportunity of further 
displaying his valour. As for the muleteers, we saw 
nothing of them till everything was settled. The guides, 
as may well be imagined, never appeared any more 
again. The whole affair, from beginning to end, did 
not occupy more than half an hour. 

As soon as the Beduins had received their bakhshish, 
they coolly rode off, taking with them poor Yussuf s 
clothes and the articles they had abstracted from the 
baggage-mule. We, on our part, replaced the rest of 
the mule's load, and continued our journey straight up 
the mountain. Having no guide, and there being no 
beaten road, we had to direct our course by means of 
the compass, up the rugged and at times almost preci- 
pitous side of the mountain. In fact, our object was to 
go due west until we struck the road to Nablus, which 
we could not fail to do by keeping on in that direction. 
At noon, a short time before reaching the summit, we 
caught a glimpse — a Pisgah sight — of the waters of the 
brook Jabbok, which, much as we had desired it, we had 
not been permitted to reach. We must only be thankful 
we were able to do as much as we did. 

The mountain we were crossing is known by the name 
of El-Makhrud, forming a bluff between the Ghor and 
Wady-Farihh, one of the principal streams joining the 
Jordan on its right bank. While on our way we were 
overtaken by a sharp storm of rain, which only had the 
effect of making us ride the faster. On attaining the 



FROM THE JORDAN TO SHECHEM. 



321 



summit of the Makhriid, we enjoyed the sight of two 
most cheering objects : a splendid rainbow on our right, 
and the mountains of Nablus before us, bearing about 
west-north-west, though it was too misty for us to dis- 
tinguish anything very precisely. We now continued 
for about half an hour over tolerably level ground, 
proceeding to the northward of west, till we reached 
the edge of Wady-Farihh, a fine large valley-plain, over 
which we had an extensive view. There was, however, 
one feature of the landscape which we could not admire. 
This was a large party of mounted Beduins in the plain 
below us on the left. We were at first afraid they be- 
longed to our assailants in the Ghor, and that they had 
ridden round the point of the Makhriid, so as to over- 
take us on our descending into the valley of Wady- 
Farihh. It proved, however, to be a false alarm. Who- 
ever they may have been, they did not advance on us, 
nor seem to perceive us; whilst we, keeping as much as 
practicable along the side of the mountain, and moving 
as silently but as quickly as possible, pursued our jour- 
ney up the valley, till about one o'clock we struck a road 
leading directly from over the mountain, and which, 
I firmly believe, came in a straight line from the ford 
where we crossed the Jordan, and was, in fact, the way 
by which we should have proceeded, had it not been for 
the treachery of our guides. 

The road on which we now were was that taken by 
the patriarch J acob ; and had we continued along it, we 

Y 



322 



Jacob's flight. 



should have ascended the valley to its head, as he did. 
But, instead of this, we turned off by the cross-road, and 
descended to Wady-Farihh, a shallow stream about four 
yards wide, which we passed, continuing over the plain 
on the other side, and then up the opposite mountains. 
We here met a party of mounted and armed peasants, 
carrying their ploughs on their shoulders, and driving 
their oxen before them, of whom we inquired the way. 
They sent us along another cross-road up the side of 
the mountain, very steep and winding, which sadly in- 
terfered with the loads on our poor mules' backs, and 
caused considerable delay from our having to stop al- 
most incessantly to readjust them. 

After a very wet and cold ride — for it had been rain- 
ing almost all the way — we arrived at a quarter to five 
o' clock at the village of Beit-Dejan, occupying the site 
of an ancient town, the remains of which are deserving 
of being thoroughly explored. Its ancient name would 
appear to have been Beth-Dagon. As the menzul was 
not convenient and fit for our reception, we were put 
into a large vaulted building adjoining it, which serves 
the inhabitants as a mosque, and which we found warm 
and comparatively comfortable. 

Friday, January 10th. — This being the Mohammedan 
sabbath, we had to vacate the mosque rather early, in 
order that the people might go to prayers. We thus 
left Beit-Dejan soon after eight o'clock, and descended 
into a swampy plain. Instead of skirting this plain, as 



FROM THE JORDAN TO SHECHEM. 



323 



Mikhail (on this side of the Jordan he has become 
Mikhail again) was directed to do by some country- 
people, we went straight across it, because he fancied 
he knew better. The consequence was that our poor 
mules fell one after the other, and the loads had to be 
taken off their backs while they were being extricated 
from the mire. The worst of it was, that, as a laden 
mule will never stand still with its load on its back, — 
it must either go on or else it will throw itself down, — 
the delay resulting from each stoppage only occasioned 
an additional one. For, while the muleteers went to 
help one mule up, the others either fell down while 
standing still, or else strayed from the path and got 
into mud-holes ; so that the whole way was a succession 
of these disasters. 

All this caused an immense loss of time, and it was 
not till noon that we reached Jacob's Well, as it is 
called, though, in spite of the tradition, there is no rea- 
son whatever for the identification. Jacob settled at 
Shalem, near Shechem, and not at Shechem itself. 
Why then should his well be at Shechem ? In the next 
place, his well was "in the field," which can scarcely 
be said of this well, it being on a spur of Mount Geri- 
zim. And lastly, it is most improbable that, to water 
his sheep in a country which is so remarkably full of 
streams, the patriarch should have sunk such an exceed- 
ingly deep well in the solid rock. In Murray's c Hand- 
book ' it is described as being seventy-five feet in depth 

Y 2 



324 



Jacob's flight. 



when last measured, with probably a considerable accu- 
mulation of rubbish at the bottom. Sometimes it con- 
tains a few feet of water : at others it is quite dry. It 
is entirely excavated in the solid rock, perfectly round, 
nine feet in diameter, with the sides hewn smooth and 
regular. It cannot surely be scepticism to disbelieve in 
the tradition which connects the patriarch Jacob with 
this immense excavation, which is far more likely to be 
the well of some fortress of much later date, sunk with a 
view to secure a supply of water in the event of a siege. 

Joseph's Tomb likewise, which is seen to the north 
of Jacob's Well, is to our mind about as authentic as 
the tomb of Paul and Virginia in Mauritius. There is 
really nothing in support of these identifications except 
the local traditions ; and if these are to be considered 
conclusive, then Pharaoh's Bridges east of Jordan, 
Abraham's Tomb near Damascus, St. John the Baptist's 
Grave in that city, and the well by Beyrout, where 
St. George killed the Dragon, have all an equal claim to 
be considered genuine. 

Shortly before reaching Nablus, we came to a beau- 
tiful large spring, rising from under the road, and run- 
ning through an artificial basin. The quantities of water 
all about here are immense, the road along which we 
went being under water, as were also the groves of olive- 
trees by which we were surrounded. We found the 
gate at the entrance of the town closed, the people being 
at prayers in the mosques. While waiting for it to be 



FROM THE JORDAN TO SHECHEM. 



325 



opened, we were importuned for alms by several misera- 
ble lepers — most frightfully offensive objects. As soon 
as the gate was opened, we went straight up a street 
through the middle of the town, down which ran two 
powerful streams of beautifully clear water, passing on 
our way a handsome ancient Saracenic portal, forming 
the entrance to a mosque, from which, just at that mo- 
ment, the men were crowding out after prayers. On 
the way we were accosted by several of Bishop Gobat's 
scholars, one of whom, a very intelligent civil lad, named 
John Dozi, who spoke a little English, attached himself 
to us, and made himself very useful. We put up at the 
house of a Greek Christian, being the first approach to 
a civilized dwelling that we had been in since we left 
Damascus. 

After resting and taking some refreshment, we went 
out to visit the Samaritan synagogue, accompanied by 
the boy John Dozi, as Mikhail had taken to his bed, 
saying that he was very ill. In passing through the 
market, we observed a number of boxes of lucifer-matches 
with a Vienna label on them, and in the street we were 
accosted by a German beggar. Like the gallows which 
the traveller was delighted to see when he was ship- 
wrecked on what he had imagined to be a desolate island, 
so these were to us signs of our being again within the 
limits of the civilized world. 

The synagogue is approached by a dark, steep, and 
narrow stone staircase, the high and worn steps of which 



326 



Jacob's flight. 



are not pleasant to ascend, and are decidedly difficult 
and even dangerous to descend. We were not permitted 
to enter the synagogue in our boots, and from the door 
we saw nothing within sufficiently interesting to induce 
us to take them off; the only object of curiosity being 
the celebrated roll of the Samaritan Pentateuch, which 
was brought out by the old priest's nephew for our in- 
spection. This roll is most sacredly cherished by them, 
it being said to have been written shortly after the time 
of Moses ; but, though it looked very ancient, I certainly 
could not bring myself to believe that. 

My husband, in returning, was descending the stairs, 
when his foot slipped, and he fell down several of the 
steps, striking his head and back severely. It gave me 
a great fright ; for on raising himself up a little, and 
sitting a moment on one of the steps, he at once said 
that he was much hurt and shaken, though it was hardly 
necessary to tell that to me, who saw and heard him fall. 
I got water, bathed his temples, and gave him some to 
drink, but all to no effect : I could not rally him, and 
he fainted away. I immediately dispatched the boy, 
who fortunately was with us, to our house to fetch some 
brandy, and to tell Mikhail to come to us directly. No 
one can imagine the agony of mind I was in. My hus- 
band lay quite unconscious, and breathed so slightly 
that I really thought he was dying. A number of per- 
sons came to look on, stopping up both the bottom and 
the top of the staircase, and yet telling me to move him 



FROM THE JORDAN TO SHECHEM. 327 



up into the air at the head of the stairs. Of course mo- 
ving a heavy man like him, in such a narrow and awk- 
ward place, was out of the question ; whilst, in spite of 
all I could do or say, they would not be persuaded to 
stand away from the stairs, and let the air come to him. 
However, I had at last recourse to my husband's whip, 
which he happened to have brought in his hand, and 
with it I managed to drive the people away. Having 
loosened his things and forced some brandy down his 
throat, I at length succeeded in bringing him to. I 
never felt more relieved and thankful in my life, than 
when I saw him return to consciousness, and learned 
that his back was not seriously injured. After resting a 
little while longer, he was, thank God, able to stand on 
his legs, and, with the assistance of myself on the one 
side and a man on the other, he managed to get home, 
where I at once put him to bed. 

This accident decided us both as to the course to be 
pursued, which each of us had in fact been turning over 
in our minds separately since we crossed the Jordan. 
This was to give up all idea of going from Jerusalem to 
Jericho, and thence to Hebron, the Desert, and the Suez 
Canal, on our way to Egypt, all which places we had 
thought of visiting ; but, on the contrary, to make the 
best of our way from Jerusalem to Joppa, and so back 
to Alexandria and England. The season of the year was 
most unfavourable for travelling, and it would really 
seem as if it was not intended that we should do any 



328 



Jacob's flight. 



more than we had done. Whilst we were on our Pil- 
grimage, we (as it were) commanded the weather; for, 
though it was anything but fine, we never had an en- 
tirely wet day, and everything turned out as if meant to 
aid our undertaking. Hardly had we crossed the Jordan 
than a total change took place, and we had nothing but 
a series of bad weather and untoward events. Added to 
all which, there was really no special motive for length- 
ening our journey : at Shechem Jacob's Flight, and con- 
sequently our Pilgrimage, properly came to an end. 



329 



CHAPTER XIX. 

FROM SHECHEM TO ENGLAND. 

Saturday, January Wth. — As if to show that we had 
reached the end of our journey, I was forced, last night, 
to take out from my trunk a pair of sheets and pillow- 
cases, which I had brought all the way from home to 
serve in case of need ; Mikhail's bedding being too wet 
to use, and it being important that my husband should 
be made as comfortable as possible, so as to have a good 
night's rest. This morning I was happy to find him 
better than my most sanguine expectations would have 
allowed me to anticipate. He was a good deal shaken, 
it is true, and a little sore, but still not sufficiently so 
to prevent his continuing the journey to Jerusalem, 
where I now wished him to arrive as quickly as prac- 
ticable, in case he might afterward feel the ill effects of 
his fall, and need medical assistance. Our dragoman 
wanted us very much to stay at Nablus a day longer, in 
order that he might wash his things, so as to be able to 
enter Jerusalem respectably, as he said; but we did not 



330 



Jacob's flight. 



consider that a sufficient inducement for us to stop. 
No doubt Nablus must be an excellent place for wash- 
ing, with such abundance of beautiful clean water. 
Every time we passed along the streets, it looked so 
deliciously clear and bright and cool, that we always 
felt inclined to stop and drink some of it. I could not 
help remarking to my husband that the patriarch J acob 
must surely have been a judge of good water, since that 
on Mount Gilead, where he rested and was overtaken 
by Laban, is only equalled by this of Shechem, which 
even I, who am not particularly fond of cold water, was 
never tired of drinking. 

We started at nine o'clock, the day being cold, with 
a drizzling rain, and nothing to interest us on the jour- 
ney. We continued on till four in the afternoon, when 
we reached the dirty village of Sinjil, where we stopped 
for the night. The house at which we put up was 
vaulted and divided into two floors; the lower one being 
for the animals and fowls, and the upper one for the fa- 
mily to live in, and as a granary and store-room. Ail 
the light comes in at the doorway, but the people seem 
to see in the dark, like cats. One corner of the upper 
floor, next the entrance, is cut out, and in the angle op- 
posite the door below are three or four immensely deep 
steps, almost perpendicular. 

Sunday , January 12th. — We had a wretched night. 
I could not sleep for the fleas, as I imagined, and was 
at last obliged to get up and strike a light ; when, to 



FROM SHECHEM TO ENGLAND. 



331 



my horror and disgust, I found the bed swarming with 
certain vermin, which, since the changing of names has 
become so fashionable, have acquired a most aristo- 
cratic appellation ; and on examining the walls, we 
found them to be literally a moving mass. It was per- 
fectly horrible ; and the wonder is how any human 
being could live there at all. We did the best we could, 
by moving our little bedsteads from the wall, shaking 
the clothes, etc. ; but, after what we had experienced, 
sleep was out of the question, and we only longed for 
daylight that we might be off. 

It was indeed a relief for us to be away from this 
wretched place altogether, though this day's journey 
was by far the worst we had. We started in the pour- 
ing rain, accompanied by our dragoman and one of the 
muleteers, who drove two mules w 7 ith our luggage ; 
Yussuf, with the other two muleteers, remaining behind 
with the tents, canteen, bedding, etc. It was a most 
miserable day ; rain, hail, and sleet the whole way, with 
a wind almost strong enough to blow one off one's horse. 
So great was the quantity of rain, that our road for 
more than half the way w r as actually through streams 
of water, the ground not being visible. With such 
weather, of course, nothing was to be seen. At Beth-el 
or its vicinity, we had been most anxious to obtain a 
view of the mountains of Gilead, but in this we were 
quite disappointed. At Beitin, which is supposed to 
represent the ancient Beth-el, we stopped however to 



332 



Jacob's flight. 



lunch; being heartily glad to get under shelter and 
warm ourselves, and also to dry our cloaks a little by 
the fire ; for we were bitterly cold. 

Here, to our surprise, we were accosted by a boy, an- 
other of Bishop Gobat's scholars, who asked us why we 
were not dressed in black. We were at a loss to under- 
stand him, when he said that our Queen was dead ! The 
shock of this news quite petrified us for the moment. But 
we could not and would not believe it to be true ; and 
on further inquiry we were told it was not the Queen, but 
the Queen's father. This, of course, we knew could not 
be the fact. At length a venerable old man, with a long 
white beard, came in, and explained to us that it was 
the Queen's husband ; and that he knew the news to 
be true, because he had just come from Jerusalem, where 
he had seen our English church all hung with black. I 
will not attempt to describe how deeply affected we were 
by this sad intelligence, and how sincerely we felt for 
our poor Queen in her deep affliction. 

The latter part of our day's journey was even worse 
than the beginning. Long before we reached Jerusa- 
lem, we were wet through to the skin : we had not a dry 
thread on us ; and so stiff were we with cold, that we 
could hardly urge on our horses, the poor beasts them- 
selves being almost as badly off as ourselves. When we 
reached the hill of Scopus, Mikhail stopped an instant, 
cicerone fashion, and indeed as it were mechanically, to 
point Jerusalem out to my husband ; that is to say, to 



FROM SHECHEM TO ENGLAND. 



333 



show him where it should be, for as to seeing objects 
of any kind at only a few yards distance from us, it 
was out of the question. I, who was a few paces be- 
hind, hurried up to ask whether Jerusalem was yet 
visible, little imagining that it lay close before us. It 
was, however, a great comfort to know that we were so 
near the Holy City ; and this knowledge gave us fresh 
courage, so that we hurried on down to the gate, and 
through the streets to the hotel. When we arrived, we 
had some difficulty in dismounting from our horses and 
getting up stairs, so stiff and in such pain were we from 
our long exposure to the weather. Our first call was 
for blankets. Fortunately our host had some good new 
thick English ones, in which we wrapped ourselves well 
up, and lay down, each of us first taking a glass of hot 
brandy and water, from the operation of which, added 
to our fatigue, we soon fell into a sound sleep. We had 
said we would dine at seven o' clock, but the master 
of the hotel, Mr. Christian Hauser, a very civil and 
obliging man, finding we continued to sleep, very con- 
siderately would not have us disturbed ; so that we lay 
till eleven o' clock without once waking. We then got 
up, had some tea, and went comfortably to bed. I be- 
lieve that our doing as we did saved us from a serious 
illness, to say the least. 

Monday, January \?>th. — W r hen we got up this morn- 
ing we found ourselves surprisingly well, though na- 
turally a good deal tired. I was astonished and re- 



334 



Jacob's flight. 



joiced at finding my husband free from any ill effects/ 
not only of yesterday's ride through the rain, but also 
of his fall at Nablus. I remained in the house all day 
to rest. My husband went to call upon Mr. Consul 
Finn, from whom he received a confirmation of the sad 
news of the Prince Consort's death, and with whom he 
had a long conversation on the subject of our journey 
and on various points of Biblical geography. 

Tuesday, January lUh , to Thursday, 16th. — Having 
decided on not going across the Desert to Egypt, it was 
necessary that we should come to some arrangement for 
cancelling the contract with our dragoman. My hus- 
band had spoken on the subject to Mr. Finn, and he 
went up with Mikhail to the cliancellerie and formally 
declared his intention to go no further. It was settled, 
however, that Mikhail should remain with us during 
our stay in Jerusalem, and should accompany us to 
Jaffa; whence we were to pay his passage home to 
Beyrout. This being satisfactorily arranged, my hus- 
band settled with Mr. Mashallum, the chancellier, the 
terms of a letter to be addressed to the consul, inform- 
ing him of the attack made on us by the Arabs in the 
Ghor, and claiming compensation for the loss we had 
sustained, which, including the cost of Yussuf's clothes, 
etc., amounted to 685 piastres, equal to about six pounds 
sterling. "We never had any idea of being reimbursed ; 
and therefore we have not been disappointed in not 
having heard anything farther on the subject. 



FROM SHECHEM TO ENGLAND. 



335 



As we expected our stay in Jerusalem to be but short, 
we had to make the most of it ; and the weather being 
fine, we went to visit the most interesting spots in and 
about the Holy City. It would be quite out of place 
for me to think of describing what is already so well 
known, and what in fact we had only time to give a 
hurried glance at. I can only express our deep sorrow, 
and even our disgust, at seeing places so deserving of 
the veneration of all Christians made the objects of so 
much superstition. It was sufficient for us to know 
that we were treading on holy ground, though feeling 
deep regret at its desecration by the absurd attempts 
made to establish the precise identification of particular 
sites, such as those along the Via Dolorosa, and in 
and about the Church (as it is called) of the Holy 
Sepulchre. 

It is however scarcely credible that the accumulation 
in one spot of all the localities connected with our Sa- 
viour's Passion and Burial, should have been the result 
of a deliberately formed plan and intention to pass them 
off for what they profess to be. It is far more probable 
that in the first instance they were simply intended to 
represent those places, at the time of the commemo- 
ration of our Lord's sufferings during the Holy Week, 
as is so commonly the practice in Roman Catholic 
countries, and as in fact continues to be the practice in 
Jerusalem at the present day:* that, in the course of 

* The following description of the ceremonial during the Holy Week 



336 



Jacob's flight. 



time, owing to the great influx of pilgrims and wor- 
shipers, those representative places were made perma- 
nent, like the chapels at La Nuova Gerusalemme on the 
Sacro Monte of Varallo, in Piedmont; and that even- 
tually ignorance and credulity, combined doubtless with 
a desire on the part of the guardians of the Holy Places 
to profit by the originally unintentional deceit, led to 
these places being asserted and believed to be what at 
the outset they only professed to represent. Such, in- 
deed, is generally the progress of error. 

In the Church of the Holy Sepulchre we w T ere shown 
the sword of Godfrey de Bouillon, the hilt of which we 
reverently kissed, as being the only relic in which we 

in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem, from the pen of an 
eye-witness, is copied from the 1 Times ' (the date I have lost) : — " The 
pageant began. It lasted from nine at night till four in the morning ; 
but we, with great exertion, got away at two. It consisted in nothing 
more or less than in carrying Jesus Christ all about the place. They 
carried Him to prison, where He was crowned with thorns. They carried 
Him from prison to the Stone of Flagellation, where He was scourged. 
They carried Him upstairs to Calvary, where He was crucified. They 
parted His garments among them, and cast lots upon His vesture. 
They took Him down from the Cross and carried Him to the Stone of 
Unction, where He was anointed. They carried Him to the sepulchre, 
where He was buried. They carried a coverlet for the tomb very much 
like the one I saw leave Cairo for Mecca to envelope the Holy Prophet 
(there is a similarity in all these things) . Whether He rose again and 
went through His duty in the other parts of the church, as in the gar- 
den where He appears to His mother— whether He vanished out of the 
church at the spot marked for that event, and whether the true Cross 
was buried and found three hundred years afterwards in the crypt of 
Santa Helena, we were too tired to wait and see." 



FROM SHECHEM TO ENGLAND. 



337 



felt inclined to believe ; though it is far from improbable 
that this too is only a representative of the original. 
Everything depends upon the uninterrupted possession 
of the real sword by the Latin monks, — an unbroken 
tradition. — which it may be difficult to substantiate. My 
husband had a special interest in this, on account of the 
opinion entertained by him that Godfrey de Beke (Gois- 
fridus de Beche) of Domesday Book took part in the 
Erst Crusade with his countryman and namesake, and, 
like him, never returned from the Holy Land. 

We were much gratified with our visit to Bethlehem ; 
though the exhibition there, as in Jerusalem, is a most 
lamentable one. The grottoes now shown cannot pos- 
sibly be the inn and stable in which our Saviour was 
born. All reverence is deadened and almost destroyed 
by these mockeries. On our way to Bethlehem we 
passed Rachel's Tomb, as also the well in which Cas- 
par, Melchior, and Balthazar, the three wise kings, whose 
skulls are enshrined at Cologne, saw the reflection of 
their guiding star : — the one site being about as au- 
thentic as the other. The Pools of Solomon are a work 
of a very different kind, and well deserving of inspec- 
tion. They are situated beyond Bethlehem ; so that we 
visited them first, returning by the beautiful gardens of 
Mr. Mashallum and Lady Dufferin. The improvements 
which are taking place in Juclea are very great. For 
some distance round Jerusalem there are extensive 
young plantations of olive-trees ; and in and about the 

z 



338 



Jacob's flight. 



city the new buildings are both numerous and hand- 
some. Every European nation seems anxious to have 
a footing in the Holy City. The Russians support the 
Greeks, the French the Latins, and the English (though 
not avowedly as a nation) patronize the Jews, whose 
interest will probably become the strongest eventually. 

In the midst of our sight-seeing we were stopped by 
the intelligence that the post from Alexandria had ar- 
rived, and that fish had been brought up from the 
coast. These were signs of fine weather at Jaffa, and of 
the probability that the steamers from Beyrout to Alex- 
andria would be able to touch there for passengers; 
and having been told that we should be in time if we 
started this afternoon, we returned forthwith to the 
hotel, packed up in all speed, and dispatched our lug- 
gage on a mule, in charge of a muleteer mounted on a 
donkey, at half-past two in the afternoon ; we ourselves 
following with our dragoman at a quarter to four. 

Nothing could be more favourable than the weather. 
It was a lovely evening, and a still more lovely night, 
the moon being exactly at the full. The road was pretty 
fair on the whole ; but there were a few very ugly places, 
and our horses were frequently knee-deep in the mud. 
The chief of these was Wady Ramleh, in crossing which 
I met with an accident, which might really have proved 
fatal. In consequence of the rains, the stream was much 
swollen, and the ford difficult to find. As usual, I was 
foremost, and my horse happening to miss the firm 



FEOM SHECHEM TO ENGLAND. 



339 



bottom, he suddenly sank up to his chest, and I was 
thrown head foremost into the mud, and for the moment 
was stunned. In an instant Mikhail and the muleteer 
came to my assistance and that of my horse ; but the 
closer they approached, the deeper we sank and the wider 
the gap became. My husband too, who was further off, 
had dismounted for the purpose of helping me. But as 
soon as I came to myself, I begged every one to keep 
away, and allow me to get out of my awkward posi- 
tion by myself as best I could. It was, however, only 
with much exertion and difficulty that I succeeded in ex- 
tricating myself. I was very fortunate in not being hurt, 
farther than suffering a good deal of pain in my head and 
neck, from the fall into the thick and almost solid 
mud. As for the poor horse, he seemed to sink deeper 
and deeper at every plunge he made, and it was not till 
after a length of time, and by our united efforts, that we 
at last freed him at all. The moon being obscured by a 
cloud, rendered for a time the difficulty all the greater. 

This ford is always a dangerous one in the winter, 
and we were told that six or eight lives are usually 
lost there every season. This year four had been killed 
already. An aide-de-camp of the King of Italy, who 
passed down a few days before us, had actually to have 
his horses dug out. A bridge and causeway, such as we 
found in the Leja and Hauran, would remedy the evil 
but the Turkish Government does not do such things, 
nor the people either. 

z i 



340 



Jacob's flight. 



Friday, January 17th. — About two in the morning 
we arrived at the Latin convent in the town of Ramleh, 
where we supped and lay down to rest. We started 
again at six, and arrived at Jaffa at half-past nine 
o'clock. As we approached the town, we were struck with 
the groves, I might almost call them forests, of orange- 
trees laden with ripe fruit. It was a perfect Garden of 
the liesperides. To our joy we found both the French 
and Austrian steamers lying at anchor in the offing. 
Had we missed these boats, we should have had to re- 
main another fortnight, or perhaps longer if the weather 
should prove unfavourable for communication with the 
land, as is often the case at this season of the year. We 
took our passage in the Austrian steamer i Fiume/ and 
before going on board we settled with our dragoman. 
My husband gave him, at his request, a certificate of 
good conduct, which on the whole he deserved ; as our 
journey on the east side of Jordan was an exceptional 
one, and therefore ought not to be brought up in judge- 
ment against him. 

In mentioning Mikhail for the last time, I must be 
pardoned for alluding to the compliment he paid me 
on taking leave of us. The news of our being attacked 
by the Beduins in the Ghor had preceded us here at 
Jaffa; and as such stories never lose by travelling, it 
was reported that we had been murdered. Of course 
Mikhail was in great request to give the particulars of 
the adventure, which he did after his own fashion ; taking 



FROM SHECHEM TO ENGLAND. 



341 



credit to himself for unheard-of deeds of valour, and 
ending by saying, " Muleteers not good ; Master not 
good ; Madame the only man among 'em." On hear- 
ing which, my husband told him laughingly, that, if he 
had said that before, he should not have had his certi- 
ficate. 

I need not say any more about our journey, than that 
we steamed from Jaffa the same evening; arrived at 
Alexandria on the morning of January the 19th; re- 
mained in Egypt till Wednesday, February the 5th, 
having in the interval paid a visit to Cairo; left for 
England via Marseilles ; and in the evening of Tuesday, 
the 18th of February, reached home in safety. W e were 
absent only three months and a week, and during that 
short time we had performed what must always be a 
memorable journey, on account of its affording an im- 
portant means of counteracting the mischievous attempts 
that are being made, to persuade ignorant and thought- 
less persons that the early portions of the Hebrew 
Scriptures are not historically true. 



i 



APPENDIX. 



NOTES 

ON 

THE PRIMITIVE CONDITION OF MAN, 
THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY, 
THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE HUMAN RACE, 

AND THE 

ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OF LANGUAGES. 

By CHARLES T. BEKE, Ph.D., E.S.A. 

Ik the fifteenth chapter of the present volume # allusion 
is made to the notion almost universally entertained, that 
the social condition, manners, and customs of the patriar- 
chal ages are best represented at the present day by those 
of the wild Beduins or Arabs of the Desert ; the favourite 
similitude of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob be- 
ing venerable Arab sheikhs : — " these wandering sheikhs," 
as they are styled in Dr. Smith's - Dictionary of the Bible.' 

Fundamentally wrong as is this notion, it is only a con- 
sequence of the opinion generally prevalent, with respect to 
the primitive condition of man and the rise and progress of 
society ; which opinion may be thus summarily stated : — 

* Pages 263-267. 



344 



APPENDIX. 



In the first ages the human race existed in the lowest state 
of civilization, namely that of the mere consumer of the 
spontaneous productions of nature ; and from that primitive 
state mankind progressively advanced through the several 
conditions of the hunter, the herdsman, and the agricultu- 
rist, or through states nearly corresponding with them ; 
until, in this last state, an absolute property having been 
acquired in the land, which was then first subjected to cul- 
tivation, the residences of mankind became fixed and per- 
manent ; and further, by the same progressive advancement, 
societies were formed, which at first were simply patriarchal, 
but which, from their subsequent increase and union, re- 
quired the institution of laws for their government and 
mutual protection ; whence ultimately resulted the esta- 
blishment of the various forms and conditions of civil rule. 

This opinion as to the gradual upward progress of civili- 
zation, however it may be supported by authority and what- 
ever ground it may have gained, is at the best purely hypo- 
thetical. So far, indeed, is it from being borne out by facts, 
that it is actually at variance with the evidence of all his- 
tory and all experience. Tor, in the early historical re- 
mains, whether real or fabulous, of all nations, we find that 
instruction and improvement are considered as having been 
introduced from an extrinsic source, by individuals either 
laying claim to divine inspiration or otherwise possessing a 
higher degree of culture ; whilst among those savage people 
with whom civilization maybe said not to exist, there is 
not, nor has there ever been manifested, the remotest ten- 
dency towards progressive improvement, from the exercise 
of that unaided reason, which, as the characteristic of the 
human race, has been deemed to be entirely sufficient for 
the purpose. 



APPENDIX. 



345 



The fact then being that no instance exists of a people 
in a low state of civilization having spontaneously adopted 
the habits of a people of higher degree ; and this hypothesis 
of the upward progress of society, as the general law of 
nature, being consequently a mere assumption without one 
particle of proof : it is certainly quite as reasonable (to say 
the least), and as likely to be in accordance with the truth, 
to maintain its direct converse, and to assert that the savage 
and uncultivated condition of mankind, which has usually 
been designated " the state of nature," is, in reality, no- 
thing else than a degeneration from a previous social state, 
in which a high degree of mental culture, if not of artifi- 
cial attainments, was possessed ; and that consequently this 
latter condition, and not the former, ought to be regarded 
as the primitive condition of the human race. 

The subject of the origin and development of the human 
species, is one with which the public mind is at the present 
moment greatly occupied, owing mainly to the hypothesis 
so ingeniously advocated by the author of 6 The Origin of 
Species by means of Natural Selection.' Eefraining from 
all comment on the obvious tendency of the opinions en- 
tertained in that work and by the school from which it 
emanates, I would simply direct attention to the fact, that 
the author's system of modification tends to confirm the 
conclusion, drawn from widely different premises, that all 
the existing races of mankind are but varieties of one 
parent stock or species ; and thus virtually, though indi- 
rectly and perhaps unintentionally, it assents to St. Paul's 
declaration to " certain philosophers of the Epicureans and 
of the Stoicks " at Athens, that their Unknown God 
" hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell 
on all the face of the earth." At the same time it cannot 



346 



APPENDIX. 



be denied that the author's arguments, if fairly followed out 
by those other writers who contend for the identity of man 
and the anthropoid animals, ought to lead to the conclusion 
that apes are degenerate men, rather than that Man is no- 
thing but a Monkey who has seen the world. 

As everything is at the present day tending to render 
the primeval condition of mankind the subject of more 
serious investigation on the part of men of science, each 
within his own special sphere of study, than it has hitherto 
been deemed by them fitted to be, it behoves them, above 
all, to entertain a proper sense of the value of the Book of 
Genesis ; which, as an historical document and quite apart 
from the question of its divine origin, has an interest and 
an importance that no other document of antiquity can 
pretend to. And they should bear in mind, that, if they 
reject this only authentic record of man's early history, they 
will in vain have recourse to the traditions of other nations ; 
and thus they will find themselves without the means of 
acquiring any knowledge on a subject, of which they cannot 
but admit the extreme importance, let the direction of their 
particular researches be what it may. 

If, however, they take that venerable record as a guide 
through the darkness of the earliest ages, they will see that 
it shadows out, if it does not distinctly exhibit, the proto- 
types of the several social conditions of mankind, in an order 
diametrically the reverse of that which is generally recog- 
nized and admitted. 

Of the first man, Adam, it is said that God " took the 
man and put him into the garden of Eden, to dress it and 
to keep it according to which statement the first condi- 
tion of man was not at all that of the mere consumer of 
the spontaneous productions of nature, but that of the hus- 



APPENDIX. 



347 



bandman or gardener. After Adam's fall, lie is said to 
have been " sent forth from the garden of Eden to till the 
ground so that the second state of man is described by 
the sacred historian as that of the agriculturist. Well did 
Professor Lindley say, in his address to the late Prince 
Consort, at the opening of the new gardens of the Horticul- 
tural Society, on June 5th, 1861, — " Horticulture, Sir, is 
the parent of Agriculture." 

This first step of declension in the condition of the first 
man, Adam, was the state likewise of the second man, Cain, 
who was " a tiller of the ground." The third man, Abel, 
descending a stage lower, became "a keeper of sheep." As 
the fall of Adam reduced him from the condition of a gar- 
dener to that of a tiller of the ground, so the fall of the 
agriculturist Cain brought him to a state lower still than 
that of the settled shepherd. He became " a fugitive and 
a vagabond in the earth " — a nomade, in fact. Thus it was 
not till man had reached the lowest state in which he is 
described in the Bible History, that we meet with him in 
that social condition, which is nowadays almost universally 
regarded as his primitive mode of life. 

Of the fugitive Cain it is next recorded that he " buiided 
a city." As the poet Cowley appositely expresses it, — 

" God the first garden made, and the first city Cain." 
Not till after the foundation by Cain of the city of Emoch, 
do we find in the Sacred History mention made of artificers 
and artists of various kinds. And in a subsequent passage 
it is recorded that " God saw that the wickedness of man 
was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the 
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually :" as if it 
were, that, in proportion as the intellect of mankind was 
devoted to external objects, their religious and moral feel- 



348 



APPENDIX. 



ings had become deadened and perverted ; the natural con- 
sequences being mental and physical deterioration, social 
degradation, and ultimate extinction. 

But without dwelling on the condition or history of man 
in the first ages after his creation, as recorded in the first, 
seven chapters of Genesis, we have a fresh starting-point in 
the eighth and subsequent chapters, which narrate the his- 
tory of Noah and his descendants after the "Flood. 

That a new social state of man then commenced is not 
to be questioned. If we look to the histories, traditions, 
and fables of all nations, we find that they coincide gene- 
rally, in recording or alluding to the fact of the destruction 
of the whole of mankind, with the exception of a few fa- 
voured individuals, who became the founders of the subse- 
quent human race ; and if, therefore, we only admit this 
fact, whatever its precise character may have been, — and on 
such concurrent and almost universal testimony we cannot 
reasonably deny it, — we may at once understand how the 
condition of the first ancestors of the present race of man- 
kind was not a natural but an artificial one, derived from 
the previous social state of the " antediluvian " world. 
Hence we can have no difficulty in conceiving how the social 
condition of man may have fallen, from the culture of that 
artificial primitive state, to the condition of the uncultivated 
savage, through all those intermediate stages of civilization, 
of which the prototypes are found in the history of the 
world before the Flood, and which, according to the contrary 
hypothesis, have been regarded as the steps by which man 
progressed upwards. 

If, in illustration of these views, we consider the history 
of the European settlements in the New World, and espe- 
cially in North America, we .find the fact to be, that some 



APPENDIX. 



349 



of the members of a previous social state, which had existed 
in a highly civilized condition during several ages, arrived 
in that continent ; where their descendants, and especially 
those who spread themselves most widely over the newly- 
settled countries, speedily degenerated from the cultivation 
of the parent stock. Could it have so happened, that all 
further communication with the Old "World had ceased, the 
deterioration which had commenced would unquestionably 
have proceeded still further. This process has however 
been checked by the continual immigration of fresh set- 
tlers, and the constant communication between the two 
continents, which have, in a great measure, maintained an 
equality between their respective inhabitants. 

But let it be supposed that these European settlers in 
America had been the only remains of a former race of 
mankind, who from some cause or other had become ex- 
tinct in their native countries : it is evident that, whatever 
in the course of ages might be the character and condition 
of their descendants, — even if some of those in the extreme 
western provinces of America, or in other regions into 
which they might have spread, had become so debased and 
brutalized as not to be recognized as belonging to the same 
race ; still, in the consideration of their early history, and 
in the endeavour to trace to their pristine state their laws, 
their customs, their language, and their religion, — however 
altered, modified, or " developed," however perverted or 
corrupted these might have become, — it would be utterly 
inconsistent that reference should, in the first instance at 
least, be made to any other stock than the European colo- 
nists from whom they had sprung, or to any other condition 
of society than that previous artificial one, of which those 
colonists had themselves been members. 



350 



APPENDIX. 



Over the earlier ante-European inhabitants of America a 
flood has swept, which is on the verge of becoming as irre- 
mediably destructive as that which overwhelmed the human 
race anterior to Noah. In some future age, the history of 
these lost American races may become, if it has not become 
already, as limited as that which we at the present day 
possess of the ante-Noachian world, or of the European 
people of the a stone age," who in like manner have va- 
nished from the face of the earth. 

The primitive inhabitants of Polynesia and Australasia 
are likewise being carried off before our eyes, by an anni- 
hilating flood, even more rapidly than those of America. In- 
stead of being raised on the scale of civilization by the con- 
tact of the more cultured Europeans, who have settled among 
them, they are dying away before them, and will soon yield 
their place to them altogether. Even the New Zealanders, 
who were fondly imagined to form an exception to the rule, 
seem doomed to the like process of extermination. 

It may, indeed, be stated as a law of nature, that a highly 
civilized race of mankind cannot come into permanent con- 
tact with another race in an extremely debased condition, — 
in the " state of nature," as it is usually called, but which I 
regard as the state of evanescence, — without causing, sooner 
or later, the annihilation of the latter. And the tw T o races 
can no more amalgamate than they can co-exist ; except 
under those abnormal and artificial conditions, in which they 
are found together in countries, in which the individuals of 
the inferior race are treated (except as regards the intercourse 
of the sexes) as animals rather than as human beings. 

"With respect to the remains of evanescent races, which 
are now exciting so much attention as memorials of a hypo- 
thetical stone age, they are, in my opinion, evidences of the 



APPENDIX. 



351 



condition of those races before their final extinction, when- 
ever this may have occurred, rather than proofs of their 
antiquity ; and I conceive that, under conformable circum- 
stances, many of those races may be almost as recent as the 
evanescent Esquimaux of the present age.* 

Eeturning to the consideration of the history of post- 
diluvian man, and regarding the present human race as com- 
mencing with JSToah, we find it recorded in the Scriptural 
History that the founder of the new world, like his proto- 
type Adam, " began to be an husbandman, and planted a 
vineyard." Of the intermediate stages of post-diluvian 
society there is no mention ; the first important act of the 
descendants of Noah being, that, following the example of 
Cain after he had become a fugitive and a vagabond, they 
began to " build a city the consequences of which act are 
stated to have been the confusion of tongues, the dispersion 
of mankind, and the peopling of the whole earth. 

* The following apposite illustration has just presented itself :— 
In Professor Max Miiller's 'Lectures on the Science of Language 'it 
is inferred, from an examination of the contents of the strata in the 
Danish peat-bogs, that " the fir, the oak, and the beech have succeeded 
each other at periods more or less corresponding to the stone, the bronze, 
and the iron ages ; that whole regions which have been covered ever 
since the days of the Romans, and probably long before, with magnifi- 
cent forests of beech-trees, once bore an equally luxuriant growth of oak; 
and that in still more distant times, — it may be four thousand, or it may 
be sixteen thousand years ago, — the same districts were overgrown with 
vast fir-woods." 

To this the Eev. J. H. Abrahall replies in the c Times ' of November 
9th : — " We moderns have witnessed the same succession of trees in the 
case of Canada, and with such rapidity, that the so-called c Pine Ridges ' 
east of Toronto are now covered with oaks ; while, in many tracts now 
wooded with the maple and the beech, the gigantic stumps show that, 
not long since, the Flora must have been very different from that which 
now marks a soil particularly inviting to the wheat-grower." 



352 



APPENDIX. 



Of these remarkable occurrences, the eleventh chapter of 
Genesis gives to the believer in the power of the Creator 
to interpose in the manner described, a plain, consistent, and 
intelligible account. It may be left to science to explain, if 
possible, the manner in which the events recorded were 
brought about, and also their consequences. These are, not 
merely the original formation of the <c one language and one 
speech," which primitive man must necessarily have pos- 
sessed, nor yet the subsequent confusion of tongues, the 
effects of which have continued to this day ; but likewise 
the standing miracle — for I must call it by that name until 
some more suitable designation can be found for it — that, 
whilst all the languages over the face of the earth, however 
remotely different and however widely spread, appear to be all 
reducible to the one or the other of three radically distinct 
tongues, these three tongues have nevertheless existed ft om 
the earliest ages, and still continue to exist, in one cen ral 
spot on the earth's surface, together and conjointly, and yet 
independently of one another and without amalgamation. 

This central spot is the northern portion of Mesopotamia 
where the dispersion of mankind originated ; and the people 
dwelling there at the present day, and speaking the three 
radically distinct tongues, are the well-known tribes of the 
Kurds, the Turkmans, and the Arabs. Respecting the lan- 
guages of these three people, the following observations re- 
quire to be made for the elucidation of our subject. 

The Kurdish is, as all philologists now recognize, of that 
great Japhetic or Indo-European family of languages, re- 
specting which I wrote in c Origines Bibiicse:' — u Notwith- 
standing the labours of so many truly learned men, who, 
during a considerable period, had devoted their whole ener- 
gies to the study and comparison of these languages, it is 



APPENDIX. 



353 



only within the last few years that the startling conclu- 
clusion has been established, that they are — Celtic and Go- 
thic, the total dissimilarity of which had been so warmly 
advocated, — Kussian and Latin, between which it would 
have been considered almost madness to attempt to trace a 
resemblance, — Greek, Persian, and Sanscrit, the language 
of the immortals, and those of the barbarians — all deducible 
from one source, and, as it were, merely dialects of one 
parent language : whilst, to perfect the revolution of opinion 
that has thus taken place, the Greek and Latin languages, 
which, at one time, it would have amounted almost to a 
heresy to imagine not to be derived from the Hebrew, are 
now shown to be of a totally different stock." 

Twenty years after these opinions were expressed, it was 
most gratifying to me to see them repeated by a scholar 
e-ajoying the reputation of Professor Max Miiller. Speak- 
ir g of the " three families" into which, like myself, he di- 
vides the languages of the world, that writer says : — " That 
the Sanskrit, the ancient language of India, the very exist- 
ence of which was unknown to Greeks and Eomans before 
Alexander, and the sound of which had never reached a 
European ear till the close of the last century, that this lan- 
guage should be a scion of the same stem, whose branches 
overshadow the civilized world of Europe, no one would 
have ventured to affirm before the rise of Comparative 
Philology. It was the generally received opinion that if 
Greek, Latin, and German came from the East, they must 
be derived from Hebrew, — an opinion for which at the pre- 
sent day not a single advocate could be found, while, formerly, 
to disbelieve it would have been tantamount to heresy."* 

* The Languages of the Seat of War in the East (2nd edit., London, 
1855), pp. 27-29. 

2 A 



354 



APPENDIX. 



Five years later, the foregoing passage from Professor 
Miiller's work was copied by the Eev. I\ "W". Tarrar into 
his c Essay on the Origin of Languages and in his preface 
the author says : — " I do not think that I have ever borrowed 
from any writer, English, Erench, or German, without ample 
acknowledgment. I would not be so dishonest as to shine 
in borrowed plumes." I therefore feel assured, that, had 
Mr. Farrar known my 6 Origines Biblicse,' he would have 
given me credit for that which is common to myself and 
Professor Miiller, and with respect to which my priority is 
evident. 

The second language to which I have to allude, namely 
that of the Turkmans, is now classed by philologists with 
the Tibetan, the Dravidian or ante-Sanscrit languages of 
India, the Mongolian, Chinese, Malay, and even the Aus- 
tralasian and American dialects; though it is as abso- 
lutely foreign to the languages spoken in the same central 
spot of "Western Asia by the Kurds and the Arabs, as 
these two are to each other. To this division of lan- 
guages, which Professor Miiller styles Turanian, belong (as 
I shall shortly have occasion to point out) the early Assyrian 
spoken prior to the Nimrodic invasion and foundation of 
Nineveh, and the primitive Aramitish language of the time 
of Abraham, traces of which may possibly yet exist among 
the Druzes or other inhabitants of Lebanon and the neigh- 
bouring mountainous regions of Syria. # 

The third language, the Arabic still spoken by the de- 

* Mr. Cyril Graham infers ( c Journ. Eoy. Geogr. Soc.' vol. xxviii. p. 
262) that the Druzes are " of an Indo-Teutonic race, which maj have 
come over at some distant period from the other side of the Desert, but 
whose original country was Northern India, or possibly China." It 
must however be remarked, that, if this were the case, they would be not 
Indo-Teutonic or Japhthitish, bat Turanian or Shemitish. 



APPENDIX. 



355 



scendants of Ham in Assyria and Babylonia, as well as in 
Palestine and Arabia, whilst totally distinct from the con- 
tiguous Kurdish and Turkish, is known to be allied to the 
Ethiopia, Galla, Berber, and other African languages still 
more remote. 

Between these three families of languages some phi- 
lologists are striving to detect a primitive connection, but 
to little purpose. Admitting it then to be true, as Pro- 
fessor Miiller asserts, that " there was a time when the 
[Aryan] ancestors of the Celts, the Germans, the Slaves, 
the Greeks and Italians, the Persians and Hindus, were 
living together beneath the same roof, separate from the 
ancestors of the Semitic and Turanian races these same 
Aryans, " Semites" and Turanians have nevertheless in all 
ages congregated, and still do congregate, in one spot, 
and oftentimes beneath the same roof, without blending 
together their races or amalgamating their languages. The 
Confusion of Tongues among the descendants of Shem, Sam, 
and Japheth, continues to exist at the present day in the 
Land of Shinar, as it did on the day when God " confounded 
their language, that they might not understand one another's 
speech." 

On the 5th of April, 1847, 1 wrote to Sir Henry C. Raw- 
linson, who was then at Baghdad, directing his attention 
to what is written in 4 Origines Biblicse' (with which work 
he had been well acquainted from the time of its publica- 
tion, in 1834), respecting the Shemitish nations, of whom, 
if my arguments a priori were valid, we might (I said) 
expect to find traces in the countries at the head of the 
Persian Gulf. The result has not only proved to be in 
accordance with my anticipation, but it also establishes 
the fundamental correctness of my interpretation of that 



356 



APPENDIX. 



most ancient and venerable record, the Tenth Chapter of 
Genesis. 

In his c Notes on the Inscriptions of Assyria and Baby- 
lonia/ read at the Eoyal Asiatic Society's meetings on 
January 19th and February 16th, 1850, and printed in the 
twelfth volume of the Society's ' Journal,' Sir Henry Eaw- 
linson expressed himself in the following terms : — " There 
are found in many parts of Persia cuneiform inscriptions 
which record the glories of the House of Achsemenes. These 
inscriptions are, in almost every instance, trilingual and tri- 
literal. They are engraved in three different languages, 
and each language has its peculiar alphabet; the alphabets, 
indeed, varying from each other, not merely in the charac- 
ters being formed by a different assortment of the elemen- 
tary signs, w r hich we are accustomed to term the arrow-head 
and wedge, but in their whole phonetic structure and or- 
ganization. The object, of course, of engraving the records 
in three different languages was to render them generally 
intelligible. Precisely indeed as, at the present day, a 
Governor of Baghdad, who wished to publish an edict for 
general information, would be obliged to employ three lan- 
guages, the Persian [Japhthite], Turkish [Shemite], and 
Arabic [Hamite] ; so, in the time of Cyrus and Darius, 
when the ethnographical constitution of the empire was 
subject to the same general division, was it necessary to 
address the population in three different languages from 
which have sprung the modern Persian, Turkish, and Arabic; 
or at any rate in the three languages which represented at 
the time those three great lingual families. To this fashion, 
then, or necessity of triple publication, are we indebted for 
our knowledge of the Assyrian inscriptions." 

"Whilst writing in Mauritius my work 6 The Sources of 



APPENDIX. 



357 



the Nile,' published in 1860, shortly* before my return to 
England, I learned from Mr. Edwin Norris, that in a frag- 
ment of an old Assyrian syllabary found at Nineveh, 
the monogram ZZJZ. { , which means month, is read pho- 

netically <y ►►y y< y <| arrhu. As this expression is 
manifestly cognate with the warhh and yerakJi of various 
Hamitish languages, possessing the same meaning, which 
are cited in page 74 of my said work, I there commented 
on this discovery in the following terms : — " Assuming the 
language in question to be the earliest spoken at Nineveh, 
it may be called Nimrodic, after the Hamite founder of that 
city." Since my return to England, Mr. Norris informs me 
that the inscription, containing in two columns the two lan- 
guages of which he sent me the specimen named above, has 
also a third column, of which the language is Turanian, 
being still more ancient than that which I style Nimrodic. 
This then can only be the language of the Assyrian (Asshu- 
rite) inhabitants of the country previously to the foundation 
of Nineveh ; and it is consequently the remains of a primi- 
tive Shemitish tongue (such as I pointed out to Sir Henry 
Kawlinson), which, if not absolutely identical with that of 
the patriarch Abraham, must have been closely allied to it, 
Asshur and Arphaxad being placed contiguously in the eth- 
nographical and geographical Table contained in the tenth 
chapter of Genesis. 

It is only of late years that the various races of mankind 
inhabiting the earth have again become classed, as they 
were in that earliest of all records, " after their families, 
after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations." 
Previously, the classification generally adopted was based 
on certain " great physical distinctions," and " particularly 
the threefold divisions of the forms of the human skull. 



358 



APPENDIX. 



This " (continues Dr. Prichard, whose words I am using) 
" is probably the most permanent of all physical varieties, 
and it must at least be taken into the account in the dis- 
tribution of nations into particular departments." Thus 
Blumenbach made three races, which he called the Cauca- 
sian, the Mongolian, and the Ethiopian ; and his classifica- 
tion was substantially adopted by Cuvier and other na- 
turalists and ethnologists. Dr. Prichard wished however 
rather to classify the principal tribes of men " by their lan- 
guages, which, of all peculiar endowments, seem to be the 
most permanently retained, and can be shown in many cases 
to have survived even very considerable changes in physical 
and moral characters ;" and he accordingly divided mankind 
into the Semitic or Syro-Arabian, the Japefcic or Indo-Eu- 
ropean, and the Hamitic or Egyptian races. But, as he could 
not quite abandon the classification founded on physical dis- 
tinctions, he found himself perplexed by the anomaly which 
the Geez of Abessinia appeared to present, as a " Semitic" 
language spoken by an African or Hamitic people ; and he 
was actually led to say, that, " if we had not convincing evi- 
dence to the contrary, and knew not for certain that the 
Abramidae originated in Chaldaea and to the northward and 
eastward of Palestine, we might frame a probable hypo- 
thesis, which should bring them down as a band of wan- 
dering shepherds from the mountains of Habesh, and iden- 
tify them with the Pastor kings who, according to Manetho, 
multiplied their bands in the land of the Pharaohs, and 
being, after some centuries, expelled thence by the will of 
the gods, sought refuge in Judsea and built the walls of 
Jerusalem." 

In 1 Origines Biblicse' a solution of this apparent diffi- 
culty is offered. That is to say, in the first place I discard 



APPENDIX. 



359 



from the classification of the various races of mankind, all 
distinctions arising from physical or even moral causes : 
because, where different races have, in their corresponding 
removal from the centre, undergone a corresponding degra- 
dation, at the same time that they have been subjected to 
the operation of similar physical conditions ; the results will 
be analogous in those races, both with respect to their phy- 
sical conformation and as regards their moral and intel- 
lectual character.^ And, in the next place, by asserting, 
for the reasons stated in pages 177-179 of the present 
work, that the Hebrew and other Syro-Arabian languages 
are improperly called " Semitic," I class them, without qua- 
lification or reserve, with the African or Hamitic languages. 

This classification is, in substance, that which is now 
generally adopted by ethnographers and philologists. Dr. 
Latham styles the three great families of languages, Mon- 
golidae, Atlantidse, and J aphetidaB ; and Mr. Norris (in his 
edition of Dr. Prichard's work), Turanian, Semitic, and 
Iranian ; whilst Professor Miiller designates them Turanian, 
Semitic, and Aryan. 

The classification being once well defined and settled, it 
is not very material what precise nomenclature is adopted. 
T would however remark that the continent of Africa hav- 
ing been peopled by the Hamites, it is evidently a gross 
misnomer to distinguish the entire languages of Africa, or 
any of them, or any cognate languages of other countries, 
by the name of " Semitic." The terms Aramaean, Syro-Ara- 
bian, and Syro-African have been employed, as it was by de- 
I grees found requisite to extend the limits of the " Semitic" 

* See Views in Ethnography, etc., in c Edin. ~New Phil. Journ.' for 
April, 1835, vol. xviii. p. 219 $ republished in 1864 as a separate 
pamphlet under the same title. 



360 



APPENDIX. 



division of languages ; till at length it has been pushed to 
an absurdity, when the Hebrew and Arabic are made to 
form a subdivision — " Beni-Terah"— of the " Semitic Atlan- 
tidse," the Atlantidae being however asserted to be " entirely 
found in Africa, whence their name." 

If a Biblical nomenclature is to be eschewed as un- 
scientific, — though it is not intelligible why in that case 
" Semitic" should have been retained, or why the derivation 
from Atlas, the son of the Titan Japetus, should be prefer- 
able to that from Ham, the son of the patriarch Noah, — 
far better would it be to call this family of languages simply 
African : it has already been styled Syro- African. At the 
same time, the Japhthitish or Japhetidse, Aryan or Iranian 
family, which has already been named Indo-European, might 
be called European ; whilst the Shemitish, Mongolidse, or 
Turanian, would naturally be Asiatic. 

The possible objection to the employment of European as 
the designation of a division of languages including the 
Sanskrit of India, applies equally, if not with greater force,, 
to the use of Aryan or Iranian as including the Celtic, 
Teutonic, Greek, and other European tongues. As to the 
adoption of Asiatic in preference to either Turanian of 
Mongolian, I apprehend there cannot exist any reasonable 
difference of opinion. 

Nevertheless, for my own part, I prefer the terms She- 
mitish, Hamitish, and Japhthitish, — or, for the sake of 
euphony, Shemitic, Hamitic, and Japhetic, — as the designa- 
tions best suited to the three divisions of languages spoken 
by and among the descendants of the three sons of Noah. 



A Map 
to illustrate 
THE PATRIARCH JACOBS FLIGHT 



Nahr el Uelh 
Bevrout 



The PatruircJis Route^.. 

ST X; JF* Bekes .Route 

fa mak ? 




THE PATRIARCH 

ABRAHAMS ROUTE 

&om Ur Casdim to Har-ran 8c Hebron 



Stan fords GeoglEstahLondon 



